F451 essays

F451 essays Ray Bradburys satire, Fahrenheit 451, is a novel full of symbols criticizing the modern world. Among those symbols appears The Hound. The Hounds actions and even its shape are reflections of the society Bradbury has predicted to come. Montags world continues on without thought; without any real reason. There is no learning, no growth, and no purpose. The Mechanical Hound slept but did not sleep, lived but did not live in its gently humming, gently vibrating, softly illuminated kennel back in the dark corner of the firehouse (24), wrote Bradbury to describe this hound. Like the hound, society was alive yet dead as well, drudging through life; mindless. The Hound was a programmed robot that didnt thing on its own; that only acted as it was told. Captain Beatty states, It just functions. It has a trajectory we decide on for it. It follows through. It targets itself, homes itself, and cuts off. Its only copper wire, storage batteries, and electricity (20), and It doesnt think anything we dont want it to think (27). That society was programmed to not think, wonder or ask why. They didnt do anything that they werent supposed to do. Today, everything is happening just as The Hound is controlled. Programming is happe ning in our very world. Take schools for example. Consider Pavlovs experiment with ringing bells to provoke an automatic response in dogs. He rang a bell; the dogs salivated expecting food. The school board rings a bell, and students rise to show respect for the American flag because now is the designated time to be patriotic, and you will or face consequences. The bell rings, students stand. The bell rings, the students sit, the student walks, the student is allowed to eat. Were robots in the programmed society. The perversion of Montags society was eminent in the appearance of the Mechanical Hou...