Analysis Of Ray Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451'

Some people believe that fantasy is a delusion that people create to overshadow reality. However what if your fantasy were to come true? This occurred to Ray Bradbury who wrote a novel about a fictional city and was later able to see his ideas come alive in the world we know today. The book Fahrenheit 451 included Bradbury’s imaginary city which was a place where people did not have the right to think or feel, and were brainwashed to believe that they were happy when in truth they were lonely and afraid. This world was Bradbury’s vision of the future, our present, and was a cautionary tale on what we were becoming. To his dismay the story that was intended on being a warning was not strong enough to stop humanity from changing. Bradbury unravels
They call it the “Mechanical Hound”; it was created to keep order in the city and to stop anyone who tried to rebel. The hounds instincts never faltered and it was feared for its cunningness and deadliness. Every one of its senses was heightened to the point where it could sniff out a single person in the entire city. It was such an extraordinary tracker that it ended up replacing real hounds which went completely against the principles of nature. Bradbury wrote that, “The Mechanical Hound slept but did not sleep, lived but did not live in its gently humming, gently vibrating, softly illuminated kennel back in a dark corner of the firehouse”(Bradbury 24). This characterizes the Mechanical Hound as being a very intricate and intelligent machine that was given every trait that a real hound possesses. Its creator specifically tried to make the hound seem as lively as possible; it was a man-made animal. The hound also represents the horror of technological adaptation which is something Bradbury warns us about. His purpose in including the Mechanical Hound was to show how technology could influence the environment. He wanted to show how machinery could progress to a level that is unhealthy to the inner workings of life and could interrupt the balance of nature. After Montag decides to fight against his society he gets a taste of the Mechanical Hounds hunting ability and must run to escape it. In an article it states “He steals a book; he begins to read; his treason is discovered and police and the Mechanical Hound pursue him across the city”(Parry). This shows how the Mechanical Hound is being used for the government’s dirty work. It was given the title of a hound but in truth it is a monster that the society manipulates to their needs. It reveals the truth about technology and about the government’s deception. Thankfully there are no Mechanical Hounds in