The Mechanical Hound is stored at the firehouse and is a lethal weapon. It's a robotic soldier of sorts that can be programmed to hunt down a specific target. At one point, Montag thinks that the hound doesn't like him, which would mean that someone may have been giving it his biological information. Montag asks his boss, Captain Beatty, about it. Beatty replies "It's a lesson in ballistics. . . It targets itself, homes itself, cuts...
The Mechanical Hound is stored at the firehouse and is a lethal weapon. It's a robotic soldier of sorts that can be programmed to hunt down a specific target. At one point, Montag thinks that the hound doesn't like him, which would mean that someone may have been giving it his biological information. Montag asks his boss, Captain Beatty, about it. Beatty replies "It's a lesson in ballistics. . . It targets itself, homes itself, cuts off. It's only copper wire, storage batteries, and electricity" (26). Montag understands that part of it, but he also knows that the hound can be given a target if provided with the following elements:
"It's calculators can be set to any combination, so many amino acids, so much sulphur, so much butterfat and alkaline. Right?" (26).
From this conversation, a more descriptive image of the hound can be imagined. Since the Mechanical Hound will seek out a specific target based on biological makeup, then one could argue that this alludes to Nazis who also targeted Jews during the Holocaust. It could also refer to any government, military, or soldier who seeks out to destroy someone based on genetics or race. Therefore, the allusion is based in science-fiction because the hound is a robot that identifies its targets by scientific evidence; but, the allusion can also be historical, political, and literary when applying it to any genocidal situation in history or literature. And any time there's a genocide, there's definitely something political behind it as well.
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