Preview

Ray Bradbury's 'The Pedestrian'

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
572 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Ray Bradbury's 'The Pedestrian'
An Analysis on “The Pedestrian” In “The Pedestrian” Ray Bradbury wanted to portray an event that happened one night while taking a walk with a friend, stopped by a police officer who didn’t get why they was walking and stated “Well don’t do it again”(Person 50). The characterization and symbolism in this short story demonstrate how society might turn out when humankind depends upon technology. “We have too many cell phones. We’ve got too many internets. We have got to get rid of those machines. We have too many machines now” (time 1) even today Bradbury shows his distrust in technology through this quote given a month before his 90th birthday. Ray Bradbury’s “The Pedestrian” shows his own distrust of technology, and view of how society will end up if to reliant on technology. …show more content…
Mead is in many ways Bradbury’s only true representation of humanity left in the year 2053 A.D., through describing him as have a “shadow of a hawk” (26), which relates him to a wild free spirited bird. Mead is also seen as humanity because he is associated with light, which is symbolic for soul, Meads house beams “loud yellow illumination, square and warm in the cool darkness” (29). While the loss of humanity is displayed in the “lone” “metallic voice” that the robotic cop car has and in the descriptions of the towns’ people being “gray phantoms” that live in “tomblike buildings” in a “graveyard” of a town showing how the life of the town dies with the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Ray Bradbury, author of “The Pedestrian,” uses word choice to convey a dreary tone. Bradbury makes it evident that Mr. Leonard Mead is walking a desolate path by his feeling of being “alone in this word.” The author describes charming cottages as “walking through a graveyard”(The Pedestrian). This contrast gives the reader a feeling of lifelessness from what could have been an inviting neighborhood. There would be a different impact on the reader if the neighborhood was simply described as silent. Mr. Leonard Mead also notices how everyone is sheltered in their “grey and silent” homes(The Pedestrian). By describing the houses in this way, Bradbury is creating a dull atmosphere which supports the dreary tone of the short story. The author would…

    • 214 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Self-expression is extremely vital for the reason that, it is what distinguishes us, and defines an individual by the decision he or she makes. Notably, in the stories “Harrison Bergeron", “The Pedestrian", and Fahrenheit 451 all by Ray Bradbury, where individual self-expression is a key aspect of the story. In the short story “Harrison Bergeron” by Ray Bradbury the government has tried to make everyone equal by requiring those who are more talented than others to wear “handicap” equipment to make everyone the same, however the principle character Harrison is forced to wear more equipment than everyone else and is placed in prison, owing to the fact that he is considered substantially more gifted than the rest.…

    • 117 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ray Bradbury’s pristine writing, significant themes, and flow of writing inevitably define the masterful piece of work that Bradbury is trying to portray to his universal audience. The novel starts with an empty, dark world and ends with hope for rebirth of a new civilization with unique individuals who become literal passages of books themselves. Bradbury’s effective writing resonates with the readers as he personifies the book for a living creature capable of humanistic influences. The endless love of literature that Bradbury possesses is clearly apparent in many memorable lines of his novel…

    • 624 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In life, anyone who is different stands out. The year is 2053. In a city of 3 million with one police car, no one goes out and just walk anymore. Every house has a T.V. and no one buys books/magazines anymore. Throughout “The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury, the main character Leonard Mead is an outcast within his city because of the way he lives.…

    • 391 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury describes a future where everyone stays inside and watches T.V., except for one man. For the past few years, Leonard Mead is the only person who takes walks through the lonely and deserted streets, when one night the only police car in the city interrogates him and then takes him to a psychiatric center for the sole reason that he was unlike the rest of society. Often people who think differently are misunderstood and as a result, they are treated unfairly.…

    • 291 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the short story ‘There Will Come Soft Rains,’ Ray Bradbury suggests that despite the sophistication of technology, it is merely a tool, and lacks purpose without its user. Technology is a personalized instrument, utilised accordingly to the individual’s purpose.…

    • 236 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    "The zipper displaces the button and a man lacks just that much time to think while dressing at dawn, a philosophical hour, and thus a melancholy hour." Ray Bradbury’s character of Beatty explains how technology has negatively had a negative effect in Fahrenheit 451. Technology transforms around us every day and almost every day new technology comes out that makes last year’s technology seem almost prehistoric. There is no question that technology has made life easier and more convenient as well as, travel faster and life saving medical advancements. It is hard not to wonder how much one actually depends on these…

    • 677 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ray Bradbury uses short sentences, similes, metaphors, and long sentences to get the message out that technology has had a huge impact on the decisions we make on a daily basis. It has pulled people away from the things that are most important and they don’t realize how important those things are until they are gone. Not only can technology take over a person but it can’t teach people what to do in real life situations. And distracts us from actually doing something. With that being said have you’ve ever done something with technology that you wouldn’t be able to do in a real life…

    • 1311 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Aside from the changes in pop-culture, and the adjustments to our political system, people do not believe that the world is changing. However, the biggest change of all is the continual advancements of technology and the culture that is being built around this revolution. As technology advances, the more one relies on it to aid them in society. The creation of these advancements is destroying the concept of intelligence and independence. In “Feed”, a novel written by M.T Anderson, it is depicted that humans are becoming vulnerable to the growth of technology and are entrusting it with their lives. The novel portrays a future in which a huge computer network, the feed, is directly connected to the brains of everyday citizens. This contraption…

    • 860 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Our society as a whole is ever changing, evolving to meet the needs to today’s world. New fashions, new methods, new ideas, and most recently, new technology. As a high school student growing up in an increasingly tech-driven world, it makes me wonder; will technology ever take over our lives so much that we are insignificant? Having recently read the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, a dystopian novel written in 1953 about a technologically superior society, I’m examining the differences and similarities between the two cultures. Without change, we could be headed for a purposeless, personality-less community that could only end in death. However, if we could change the direction of our world to one that is aided by technology but driven by innovation, it would result in a possible ideal version of the world today.…

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    You Are Not a Gadet

    • 1866 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Jaron Lanier in his book, “You Are Not A Gadget,” reveals his concerns of the advancements of technology on those who are using it. He brings to light many issues that most people don’t think of, nor realize is happening on a day to day basis. The continuing evolution of the digital world has begun and has more potential than ever to destroy the human race by taking away ones individuality, creativeness, emotion and the real meaning of relationships. In essence everything makes a person, human.…

    • 1866 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In the novel The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury, there are many short stories that analyze the abuse and danger of technology, as well as our fascination with it. In addition, it shows how technology influences our relationships with others. In “The Veldt”, a family’s smart house ends up making their lives easier at first, but eventually ruining their lives as the technology becomes a replacement for the people themselves. In the story, the children end up killing their parents because the home has become a parent figure to them, and their real parents threaten to take it away. In “Marionettes, Inc.”, peoples’ robotic forms of themselves begin to act for themselves and become a better version of the original person. Rather than deal with the problems in their relationships, the people in the story choose to run away by making a robotic version of themselves. Ray Bradbury uses these stories that show the risks of technology in order to spread the message that we need to be careful around…

    • 1290 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Artificial intelligence is evolving every day, however this technology is erasing the future of mankind all together. An example of artificial technology diminishing our future in stories would be in “The Pedestrian”, “The Veldt”, and “August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury. “The Pedestrian” shows the government diminished the entire police force to only one artificial intelligent police car which could not react rationally to Leonard Mead which was simply walking. “The Veldt” also glorifies the downsides of artificial intelligence. It does this by showing how a “nursery” can replace neglectful parents of the children. Finally “August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains” displays how humans can’t entirely…

    • 1577 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cited: Bradbury, Ray. “The Pedestrian.” The Golden Apples of the Sun. Praeger, April 29 ,1971. 98-102.…

    • 703 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Technology is taking over the lives of countess numbers of people. Since the early 1400’s, humans have been creating mechanical appliances to aid in their daily lives. With the formation of these electric assistants, humans have created multitudinous artifacts to help both themselves and the planet they inhabit, as well as advance farther into the realm of understanding how the commodities here work. In recent years, humans have become preoccupied by gadgets like cell phones, televisions, and computers. This mild preoccupation has now turned into a complete obsession with constantly having a screen to stare at for hours. Ray Bradbury uses his stories “The Pedestrian” and “There Will Come Soft Rains” to meticulously…

    • 1277 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays