Wednesday, December 3, 2014

How does the government in Fahrenheit 451 control the mechanical hound?

The Mechanical Hound is one of Bradbury's science fiction inventions that is housed at the firehouse with the firemen. It is used to track down criminals who might try to run rather than be arrested and taken to jail. Captain Beatty describes it as "a lesson in ballistics" because it is made up of batteries, electricity and copper wiring. Montag adds that it has calculators that "can be set to any combination, so many amino...

The Mechanical Hound is one of Bradbury's science fiction inventions that is housed at the firehouse with the firemen. It is used to track down criminals who might try to run rather than be arrested and taken to jail. Captain Beatty describes it as "a lesson in ballistics" because it is made up of batteries, electricity and copper wiring. Montag adds that it has calculators that "can be set to any combination, so many amino acids, so much sulphur, so much butter fat and alkaline" (26). What this means is that the Hound can be given a person's scent through specific scientific means (amino acids), which gives the Hound more accurate information when searching out its target. 


Montag goes on to say that the firemen have a master file on everyone that they can program into the Hound at any given moment. The Hound, like a computer, can store that information into its memory. He believes that maybe someone input part of his information in order for the Hound to growl at him when he walks by. Montag feels that recently the Hound has been "irritate" but not angry when he goes by. Beatty denies it and promises to have the technicians look at the Hound because Montag claims that the Hound also growled at him twice last month (26-27). From what it seems, Beatty has control over the Hound and how he can control it how he sees fit whenever he wants. 

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