Captain Beatty makes use of the Mechanical Hound in order to alert Montag and arouse his suspicions that he is being watched.
Early in the narrative, there is the foreshadowing of the role of this device of detection in a society in which thought is so strictly controlled. After Montag's second meeting with Clarisse, and Montag allows himself to experience the rain on his tongue as she has done, the Mechanical Hound is described upon...
Captain Beatty makes use of the Mechanical Hound in order to alert Montag and arouse his suspicions that he is being watched.
Early in the narrative, there is the foreshadowing of the role of this device of detection in a society in which thought is so strictly controlled. After Montag's second meeting with Clarisse, and Montag allows himself to experience the rain on his tongue as she has done, the Mechanical Hound is described upon Montag's arrival at the firehouse:
It was like a great bee come home from some field where the honey is full of poison wildness, of insanity and nightmare...and now it was sleeping the evil out of itself. (Part I)
When Montag touches its muzzle, "the Hound growl[s]." Then its eye bulbs become activated and it again growls. As Montag backs up, the Hound takes an aggressive step forward. Once downstairs with the other men, Montag tells Captain Beatty that the Hound does not like him. The Captain refutes this notion, saying that this machine has no feelings; it just "functions." Significantly, Montag contends that the Hound has reacted against him because someone must have set up enough "memory" in it so that it will growl when he touches it.
"Who would do a thing like that?" asked the Captain. "You haven't any enemies here, Guy." (Part I)
Nevertheless, Beatty promises to have the Hound's mechanisms checked. Montag stands still as he thinks of the ventilator grill in his hall and the fact that he has hidden books behind this grill. He ponders,
"If one of the firemen were to know about this grill, mightn't they 'tell' the Hound...?" (Part I)
After Montag remarks that he would not want to be the Hound's next victim, Beatty asks, "Why? You got a guilty conscience about something?" Montag looks up quickly as Beatty watches him "steadily with his eyes and his mouth opened." Then he laughs softly.
Clearly, there are innuendos in Beatty's conversation with Guy Montag that should alert Montag that the Mechanical Hound has certainly been programmed to be suspicious of him.
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