The short story “The Pedestrian” written by Ray Bradbury,
depicts the society in which the main character lives. The world described is a
futuristic one, as it is familiar to the author’s tendency to write. Within the
story, the author reveals the loss of humanity and lack of communication as a
result of the technology development pointing out the regress of the society.
The whole story is a description
of a regular evening walk “for hours and miles” that Leonard Mead (the main
character) used to do. It happens in November, year 2053 somewhere in US, 11
South Saint James Street. As this activity was a habitual one “for ten years of
walking”, every evening he chose a new direction and “on this particular
evening he began his journey in a westerly direction , toward the hidden sea”.
He was walking for air, walking to see the empty streets and houses. So, this
evening seemed to be like any other evenings but everything went on
differently. His promenade was interrupted by the police car which arrested him
because of the misunderstanding of his action.
As
far as the author is a science fiction writer, the story dwells on a future
society in which “everything went on in the tomblike houses, where people sat
like the dead, the gray or multicolored lights touching their faces, but never
really touching them”. Anyway, in order to show that there was still a hope, R.
Bradbury, in his short story tried to embody the “humanity” of mankind in the
main character - Leonard Mead. In other words, Leonard Mead was only one
representative of a human being in that city with feelings and emotions which
were alive. It was he, whose personality and values weren’t touched by the
progress indeed. Therefore, the author reveals such theme as loss of humanity
as a result of technological disaster leading to a lack of communication. The message resulting from the story and the
theme is that technology which was designed for making lives easier, actually
becomes a threat of the humanity.
The
author reflected the kindness and humanity in Leonard Mead. He depicted him as
a bright, intelligent and well-bread man. As he “could feel the cold light
going on and off”, it means his heightened senses prevail his rationality. He
was feeling every move, rustle and noise that surrendered him while walking.
The only thing he could notice was “the silent, and long and empty street” as
it was usually during his “ten years of walking”. It dwells on his opened soul
that passed through years looking how the society regressed and he couldn’t do
anything. When he was asked his profession, he answered doubtfully he was a
writer because he “hadn’t written in years”. Yet, “magazines and books didn’t
sell anymore”, “everything went on in the tomblike houses”. By telling all
these, he intended to reflect the disdain that progress showed for mankind and
his position towards it. Concluding his feelings, it can be deduced that the
progress done was only for the sake of progress and for nothing else. He’s the
only exponent in that very society who survived no matter what. To maintain his
idea, the author gives another argument, describing Mead’s shadow as “a shadow
of a hawk” that reveals his free spirit of his soul, ready for feeling the
atmosphere but not acting like zombies.
As
a contrast to the humanity, the author brings as an example the portrait of the
police car who is a representative of a senseless machine who could speak. In
order to show it had no emotions and feelings, R.Bradbury depicted it as having
“a metallic voice”. It also didn’t understand the need of a human being “to
walk…to see”. Moreover, when Leonard Mead told his profession, the car didn’t
recognize it as a profession at all, saying “no profession” – totally denying
the existence of a mankind. As the car was a representative of the “progress”
it wasn’t interested in the man’s feelings or to clarify the situation; it just
ordered to put him in a “black jail” and drive him to “the Psychiatric Center
for Research on Regressive Tendencies”. It was the main argument of describing
the inhumanity of the car who while speaking, acting like a human being, still
having no emotions and intellect.
In
order to catch the reader’s attention and to fulfill the meaning, to establish the idea and to create an understanding
message, R. Bradbury used a set of stylistic devices for making the text alive
and captivating. Among the most used ones, there should be noticed the
enumeration, and namely the Asyndeton as in the example “Mr. Leonard Mead would pause, cock his
head, listen, look, and march on, his feet making no noise” that highlights and emphasize the actions made by
Mr. Mead. Another SD that prevails in the text is the frequent use of Simile: the comparison of the
cottages and homes to a "graveyard"
creates a supernatural, hyperbolical meaning . This is a comparison that is
continued throughout this paragraph as "firefly light" that "flickers"
is observed, and "sudden grey
phantoms" appear as the main character passes. All the Stylistic
Devices used by the author, was for the sake of creating a lively, interesting
and overwhelming atmosphere in the text.
Throughout
the story, light and dark were always contrasted and contradicted themselves.
By “light” the author reflects the Leonard Mead’s “humanity” and the “dark”
side – is a representative of the police car’s “senseless” and “useless”
progress. By pointing this, R. Bradbury highlights the danger of the technology
to the society and humanity. He indirectly depicted how life may change if
mankind abandons its humanity to progress. It would be a terrible thing to see
how the next generation grows in a society surrounded by selfish, cold “police
cars” rather than in a warm, loving and human as “Mr. Mead’s" one.
