Key Themes Of The Pedestrian By Ray Bradbury (2024)

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As the title implies, Ray Bradbury’s “The Pedestrian” tells the story of Mr. Leonard Mead, a man living in A.D. 2053 who loved to walk. This serves as a form of unusual behavior because it doesn’t follow the societal structure laid out by the leaders of his government. Mr. Mead is the only known person who refuses to conform and become like his fellow citizens who spend their nights inside surrounded by technology. In “The Pedestrian,” Ray Bradbury uses point of view, conflict, and symbolism to hint at a dystopian future so heavily influenced by technology it has reached a point of reliance.

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Furthermore, on page 2 of Ray Bradbury's The Pedestrian, the main character, Leonard Mead, then asks the talking police car where he is being taken to, which the car responds "‘To the Psychiatric Center for Research on Regressive Tendencies’” (Bradbury 2). The self-driving, talking car convinces Leonard Mead that he is crazy for not having a television and a wife upchucking an emotional response in Leonard Mead's mind to become vulnerable to the influence of the car. Due to vulnerability, the car was able to control Mr. Mead without suspicion, by making him feel guilty for being so

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The vehicle speaks to him saying that it is bringing him “... To the Psychiatric Center for Research on Regressive Tendencies.” (176). The way technology was used in the future made it seem that Mr.Mead was a lunatic, which is why the police car was taking him to a research center. In brief, technology made Mr. Mead look insane and far from the

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In the story a cop car stops the main character from his usual walk with a light that agitates him making him come to a stop and become fixated on the light. The car in the story is represented by humanity by the ¨fierce¨ and ¨fiery¨ light that holds the society represented by the main character around it ¨fixed¨ like a ¨museum specimen.¨ The main character Mr. Leonard Mead portrays the theme in the story by using his thoughts, actions and words. One of the ways Mr. Mead uses his thoughts is to picture himself in a different place from where he is, ¨He could imagine himself upon the centre plain, a wintry, windless Arizona desert with no house in thousand miles, and only dry river beds, the street for company.¨ He uses the Arizona desert because the city around him is so quiet and there is not a person to be seen

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In Ray Bradbury’s short story “The Pedestrian”, the motifs of the story were appeared a lot of times. Motifs always repeat in the story and give a dominant central idea to strengthen the theme. By reading the motifs in the story, we could learn more about the things that the writer wants to tell us. In this story, there are lots of words of motifs; for examples, silence, alone, darkness, empty and frozen. Those motifs shows the lacking of inspiration and excitement in the story and determines the dark keynote of the story.

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Futuristic and dystopian stories are oftentimes a way for their authors to express grievances and hopes about the way their particular society progresses. For example, Ray Bradbury uses the cold, lonely, urban setting in “The Pedestrian” to suggest that extreme, government-enforced conformity leads to a frigid lack of human identity and dignity. Set in 2053, “The Pedestrian” follows an old man on an evening walk through “long moonlit avenues of pavement.” The streets are empty, the air “frosty,” and even the cottages are dark. The whole scene is like a graveyard: completely void of warmth where “grey phantoms” seem to appear through the curtains of faintly lit homes.

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The "Pedestrian" is a futuristic story about a man who is not involved with the world. Bradbury uses setting, figurative language, and symbolism to affect the overall succession of the story. First, Bradbury uses figurative language to portray the negative view of technology on people. He uses similes to show how people are affected. For example, "But now these highways, too, were like streams in a dry season all stone and bed and moon radiance.

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In both works of literature the setting is quite similar. For example, since the world is controlled by technology the police expect you to stay inside. In the short story “The Pedestrian” everyone is inside watching television except Leonard Mead, Leonard is the only one who is outside. Also since everyone has a viewing screen " And you have a viewing screen in your house to see with?"

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Mead walks along the empty streets as the city seems to be silent due to restrictions but only one can guess. Society has also cut many programs like cutting the police program, “the police of course, but what a rare, incredible thing; in a city of three million there was only one car left.” the strong dystopian connection really shows by a oppressive society places many hard restriction and many job cuts as shown by the police force being cut to one car, but this is not the only thing that has been taken by society in this story. Society has also taken away individuality as everyone lives the same social life. Everyone is inside by Eight o’clock, everyone watches tv at the same time, and everyone gets their fresh air from a machine on their front door.

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The science fiction works of “Harrison Bergeron”, by Kurt Vonnegut and “The Pedestrian”, by Ray Bradbury are sarcastic portrayals of futuristic societies that are controlled by authoritative governments that have completely made their communities equal. Each of these stories take a look at the prospect of promoting sameness and conformity among all people, and questions the effects of the forced elimination of citizens’ individuality in order to maintain equality. In “The Pedestrian” Mr. Leonard Mead faces extreme consequences for his nightly stroll in the city. In the year 2053, Mead’s society has become completely taken over by televisions and the media.

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Ray Bradbury’s “The Pedestrian” is filled repeatedly with imagery. These descriptive phrases of imagery provide vivid details that make the story easy to imagine, so real and visual. Bradbury’s writing comes alive to the reader. This short story is about a peaceful man, walking by himself, who is picked up by the police and thrown in jail. Imagery helped readers understand the setting of “The pedestrian.”

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In “The Pedestrian”, Ray Bradbury’s use of diction suggests that society is so consumed with technology that it is plummeting. Bradbury suggests that society is tomblike because they sit and watch the television like they are dead. Bradbury states ”the gray or multicolored lights touching their faces, but never really touching them” (Bradbury), society does not have any feelings, it has lost everything that is unique about it. Society does not have any emotion left because technology has taken it all away. Mr. Mead in “The Pedestrian” enjoys not being married because he has no quality choice of a wife, all of the society is empty.

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This has made it a crime to just simply walk down the street and explore the things that are going on around you. This brings up many questions about the world we live in and how similar the dystopian society in “The Pedestrian” is compared to the world that we live in today. The technological advancements in this text did not save

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Differences are what makes individuals, individuals. In the short story, “The Pedestrian,” Ray Bradbury depicts a society consumed by technology, in which humans become cold and disconnected one another. Children are encouraged to watch television instead of participating in sports or reading books. Bradbury uses the contrasting characterizations of the main character, Leonard Mead, and the futuristic setting to emphasize that technology is dehumanizing.

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Ray Bradbury, in "The Pedestrian, uses symbolism and conflict and figurative language to prove his beliefs about technology: technology forces an automatic lifestyle onto its users. First, Ray Bradbury uses figurative language to enhance the mood and the negative ideas about technology, and by doing so he creates the building grounds for the setting, characterization, and theme of "The Pedestrian." Attentively, Bradbury uses similes to delineate the setting, the dehumanization of misfits, and the problems with technology; this can be shown throughout the plot line. For example, as Mr. Mead saunters endlessly down the vacant streets, he notes his surroundings: "The street was silent and long and empty, with only his shadow moving like the shadow of a hawk in mid-country"(6). Not only does this enrich the solitude that people