Ray Bradbury Hates Technology: Analyzing “The Pedestrian”

In the year 2016, technologies is component of our each day lives, but in the future technologies will become considerably a lot more advanced and effective, and not always in a beneficial manner. In the Ray Bradbury brief story “The Pedestrian,” it is the year A.D. 2053 and technologies is taking over the globe. The major character, Mr. Leonard Mead, has a day-to-day routine that includes walking for hours and miles around a quiet town till he returns to his residence at midnight. Throughout the narrative, Bradbury shows via symbolism, setting, and dialogue that technology can take away from nature and the beauty of life itself.

The a single issue Mr. Leonard Mead would lengthy to do is to walk for hours along the streets of a “deserted” town. The powerful symbolism assists the reader to understand how strongly the author feels about the subject. The first glimpse of human life other than Mr. Mead is that “Everything went on in the tomblike homes at night now. The tombs, ill-lit by television light, where the individuals sat like the dead, the gray or multicolored lights touching their faces, but never ever touching them” (58). The reader learns the author’s point of view when the houses are described as resembling tombs, where folks sit motionless just like the dead. It is also implied that the residents living in the houses seldom have speak to with other people, other than the folks conveyed by tv light, which never physically touches them at all. An additional example involves how Mr. Mead “put his hand on the door and peered into the back seat, which was a little cell, a little black jail with bars. It smelled of riveted steel. It smelled of harsh antiseptic it smelled also clean and difficult and metallic. There was practically nothing soft in there” (59). The use of the word “jail” symbolizes the powerful connection in between technology and the dark, sad life of a prisoner. Utilizing words like “hard,” “antiseptic,” and “metallic,” which do not appeal to the sense of smell or touch, also indicates the disillusioned stance towards technologies.

Bradbury’s detailed description of the setting assists the reader visualize the dark and gloomy world bombarded with technology. Through Mr. Leonard Mead’s eyes, we see that, “On his way, he would see the cottages with their dark windows, and it was not unequal to walking by means of a graveyard where only the faintest glimmers of firefly light appeared in flickers behind the windows. Sudden gray phantoms seemed to manifest upon inner room walls where a curtain was nevertheless undrawn against the night, or there were whisperings and murmurs where a window in a tomblike building was still open (56). This description of the town helps the reader visualize the eerie and dark setting of the “abandoned” town, despite the fact that it is inhabited. It also indicates the bustling life inside the eerie houses, in contrast to the empty streets with only whispering and creepy shadows to show indicators of any life at all. Whilst Mr. Mead continues his stroll, he indicated that “The cement was vanishing under flowers and grass. In ten years of walking by evening or day, for thousands of miles, he had by no means met one more particular person walking, not a single in all that time” (57). The cement not getting kept up implies the lack of folks really walking and making use of the sidewalk. The quote also states that for ten years, Mr. Mead has never met yet another soul walking outside, which leaves the unnecessary sidewalk to disappear beneath the grass and dirt.

Today, newspapers and magazines are nevertheless somewhat well-known and are sold in almost each supermarket, restaurant, and pharmacy. By means of dialogue among the police auto and Mr. Leonard Mead, the reader obtains info about the future and how technologies has drastically changed the planet. Through Mr. Mead, the reader learns that he is a writer but “He hadn’t written in years. Magazines and books didn’t sell anymore. Almost everything went on in the tomblike houses at night now (58).” The context of the sentence aids imply that the tomblike homes are the tv sets. All the info every person wants to know is broadcasted on the tv and there is no need for books, newspapers, or magazines anymore. The reader learns by way of dialogue in between the police vehicle that writing in the year 2053, the police auto classifies writing as “Business or profession? I guess you could call me a writer. No profession, stated the police vehicle, as if talking to itself” (58). Due to the fact that technologies is so widespread, writing is not regarded as a profession anymore. The police auto discounted his profession as if it was not important any longer. Besides the fact that writing is insignificant, the police vehicle finds it odd that Mr. Mead is “Just walking, Mr. Mead Yes. But you haven’t explained for what objective I explained: for air, and to see, and just to walk” (59). The police auto can not wrap its head around the truth that Mr. Mead walks for air, when there is air conditioning, and that he walks to see, when there is a tv that he could view anything he desires without leaving his residence.

Bradbury’s brief story implies that as well a lot technology can isolate a individual from nature and the globe. In the finish of the story, we discover that Mr. Leonard Mead was taken to a Psychiatric Center for study on Regressive Tendencies by a police car. It is ironic that technology, which is supposed to give somebody a lot more freedom and possibilities, took away the one particular thing Mr. Leonard Mead cherished and looked forward to every single day.