Ray Bradbury's The Pedestrian

Ray Bradbury the author of the short story “The Pedestrian” purpose behind writing this unique story, was to show his audience the threat of technology and how in the future it may potentially take over our lives completely. In a city of 3 million people the crime rates have plummeted so dramatically that there is only one police car left. The author paints a picture of empty streets, dreary houses and dark windows with people stuck inside all night glued to their T.V screens. “It was not unequal to walking through a graveyard for only the faintest glimmers of firefly light appeared in the flickers behind the windows.” People have become so addicted to TVs that they don't emerge from their homes during the night, due to this the crime problems

“...he was alone in this world of A.D. 2053, or as good as alone…” The Pedestrian by Ray Bradbury is a short story that focuses on the idea of how lonely it can be in a world of technology. Starting the story with Leonard Mead, the pedestrian, walking around the neighborhood and talking to the houses as if they were people not talking to the ghosts within the windows. During mid walk he ran into some trouble with the police leading him into being arrested for walking without a valid purpose. The Pedestrian by Ray Bradbury portrays this idea of how lonely it can be in a world of technology by using metaphors, dialogue and symbolism.

Future society is an extremely unpredictable subject, because people all have different views on life. Charles G. Waugh author of the short story, “Long Way Home” tells a story about a caring father losing his son, due to the world's advanced technology. On the other hand in the short story, “The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradley, individuals are completely addicted to technology, allowing technology to over rule the world and take over people's minds. Although both stories show a possible outcome of the future, the more realistic future will most likely be “The Pedestrian”.

Many people are not mindful of how technology is disconnecting us from one another. When people pull out smartphones during a conversation or social gathering they will cause others to feel disconnected. These phones allow people to withdraw from what is happing now and move another situation reducing the quality of the conversation that is within our reach. In the essay "Stop Googling. Let's Talk" by Sherry Turkle; she believes that we are becoming a culture of short chats versus growing our culture of thinkers that are open to sharing in constructive and meaningful conversations with one another.

Ray Bradbury uses irony to display how the obsession of technology increases the possibility of losing connection with yourself. In The Pedestrian, he displays how an innocent man gets stopped and questioned by the police only because what he was doing appeared unusual. “‘What are you doing out?’ ‘Walking,’ said Leonard... ‘Have you done this often?’ ‘Every night for years.’ The police car sat in the center of the street with its radio throat faintly humming...The back door of the police car sprang wide. ‘Get in.’ ‘Wait a minute, I haven't done anything!’” (Bradbury pg2) Unexpectedly, Leonard Mead gets arrested for doing the unusual- walking around his neighborhood. What would normally seem fine is uncommon in Mr. Mead’s society, because he is the only one who wanders around his neighborhood while everyone else stays in, busy watching television. Bradbury focuses on Mr. Mead’s isolation and dissimilarity to everyone else by indicating how “He would see the cottages and homes with their dark windows, and it was not unequal to walking through a graveyard where only the faintest glimmers of firefly light appeared in flickers behind the windows.” (Bradbury pg1) Bradbury depicts a society in decline; where the houses are like coffins and the people are dead from their addiction to their screens. Mr. Mead is

The smart home’s advanced technology leads more to demise rather than happiness. An example of this is in “The Veldt” when it is stated that, “They walked down the hall of their soundproofed Happylife Home, which had cost them thirty thousand dollars installed, this house which clothed and fed and rocked them to sleep and played and sang and was good to them”(3-4). The house does everything for them, but it still cannot put Lydia at ease. It also makes its inhabitants feel useless which does more to harm them than help them. Another instance of technology leading to demise is in “There Will Come Soft Rains” when Bradbury states that, “The house tries to save itself”(11). Technology has become so much like humans that it is performing human actions. Unfortunately, all humans must die which is why technology must do it as well. Technology’s death is also foreshadowed in this passage which states, “This was the one house left standing. At night the ruined city gave off a radioactive glow which could be seen for miles”(“Soft Rains” 5). Technology has outlived humans yet it cannot survive without them. When this computerization of a home tries to survive on its own, it causes destruction. In short, when technology has no more humans left to serve, its purpose is gone. Therefore all it has left to do is vanish.

Ray Bradbury is widely famous for being a man who predicted a lot of future inventions in his novels and short stories. Not only he created the image of future but also warned the generation of the consequences of the thoughtless use of new. “The Veldt” is a short story about Hadley family who lives in a smart house full of devices designed to simplify and brighten their everyday life. But the addiction of Hadley children to their nursery results in tragedy and broken family. The technology plays an important role in the short story, moreover, it can be considered one of its main characters. Thereby, the technology shown in “The Veldt” can be definitely considered as a prototype of modern technology with all its affinity, however, the misuse

In the short story “The Pedestrian” Ray Bradbury tells a story of Mr. Leonard Mead who is alone and isolated in newly innovated world of A.D. 2053. In this futuristic society Mr. Mead is no longer needed as a writer, so he then walks over uneven sidewalks for ten years capturing vivid images of the society he currently lives in which is strongly impacted by technology. Throughout the text, Ray Bradbury uses literary devices such as imagery, foreshadowing, and symbolism to reveal how societies may be strongly influenced by the new advances of technology.

The relationship between people has been changed because of the widely using of new technology. People can easily communicate with other people by using different kinds of methods. Because of the use of those methods, people have more space with others and frequently hide part of themselves on the Internet in order to show the best of them. In the essay “Small Change: Why he Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted”, Malcolm Gladwell states that the relationship between people can be categorized by strong ties and weak ties. For example, in the past, people communicated by the method of interpersonal hierarchies, which are considered as strong ties. However, with the development of technology, social network, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Skype, which have become very popular in the world, are regarded as weak ties. Moreover, in the essay “Alone Together”, Sherry Turkle claims that people are distant with others and get lost in the virtual world through the new technology. She points out that now people communicate with others through technology instead of directing talking to real people. Furthermore, some people suppose that sociable robots as substitutes for people. Both Gladwell and Turkle agree with the idea that technology plays an important role on people’s connection. Technology only creates inauthentic relationship because it hides identity of many disorganized people.

Technology today has advanced and impacted our way of living and the dependence on it has become a natural habit for our society. People today depend on their phones for numerous things such as, talking, messaging, driving directions, surfing the web or even to update their current Facebook status. Many people say that since they rely so heavily on technology, it has been known to weaken our society’s ability to open a book or newspaper to find information instead of looking at your phone. Technology has become a crutch for our generation today and without it we would fail. There have been inferences that technology will ruin us and lead us to extinction. In Ray Bradbury’s short story “There Will Come Soft Rains”, he purveys speculation that technology is the cause of downfall in society and that nature will outlast man’s creation.

Everyday technology has become a strain on the real world. People would rather have a conversation online than face to face. In today’s society, everything is seemed to be done online, whether it is having a conversation or even trying to make new friends. In The Flight from Conversation, Sherry Turkle asserts that technology has had a negative impact on how we socialize with one another, lessening the conversation. Turkle, who has spent years researching the relationship with technology and humans, uses real world situations where technology has not only changed the way someone socializes but has changed their persona and character making the audience feel pitiful and reflective of their own actions. The author also uses logical reasoning

Has mankind managed to progress in a positive way? In “The Pedestrian”, Ray Bradbury shared his opinion about the situation. Using characterization and imagery Bradbury shows that if the world advances to the point where people lose all humanity then the world might as well not exist, although his opinion may not be the opinion of all mankind it is logical and understood. Rays opinion about the future and forces the reader to consider the possible reality of it.

Imagine if a person could actually prophesize the future. Try to imagine what the future will hold as individuals, artificial intelligence, and world peace. Ray Bradbury was a poet and writer of idealistic futuristic scenarios and horror. Although he did not want to be classified as a Science Fiction writer, he was exactly that in the eyes of his readers and critics. Ray Bradbury wrote two short stories composed of his ideals of the future: “There Will Come Soft Rains” and “All Summer in a Day. “ Both of these two short stories show a futuristic outlook on life for humans and humanity; although the concepts are expressed differently. “There Will Come Soft Rains” shows the fate of the human race and the end of humanity. Bradbury describes

In the short story “There Will Come Soft Rains”, Ray Bradbury uses the concepts of emptiness and loneliness to portray a lack of human interaction. Through the story’s diction, readers can understand that the development of technology has lead to the downfall of mankind, thus blocking off human interaction. For example, Bradbury uses the timestamps, such as “Eight-one, tick tock, eight-one o'clock” (1) to convey this emptiness throughout the house. This repetition throughout story further emphasizes how the house took control over the lives of the previous residents and didn’t live like a traditional, close-knit family. Moreover, Bradbury uses phrases like “no doors slammed” (1) and “no carpets took the soft tread of rubber heels” (1) to show how eve with with all the posh features to the house, no one is responding, one again representing the lack of humanity present in the house. In addition to the diction, Bradbury also incorporates this lack of humanity through imagery. He does this by describing the surrounding of the house and the former

Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, once said,“The PC has improved the world in just about every area you can think of. Amazing developments in communications, collaboration and efficiencies. New kinds of entertainment and social media. Access to information and the ability to give a voice people who would never have been heard.” Ray Bradbury was an author that was born on August 22, 1920 and wrote many stories during his life span. In addition, during the 1950s, World War 2 was happening and many people feared the damage nuclear weapons can have after the United States attacked Japan. To add on, the story “There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury takes place in the future where technology has made the process of many things easier but a fire ends up overpowering the electronics in a house. Technology has improved society because it can help people be safe.