Pedestrian by Ray Bradbury.
The setting Question: Choose a short story with an important message. Explain what the reader is to learn and analyse and how the writer achieves his purpose.
A short story that warns us about the disparaging effect the future will have on us is the writer tries to create is a dull and disheartening one. He tells us about the streets being “silent and misty”, this is a brilliant way to start the story because it tells you immediately about the emptiness and depression it is creating.
The characterisation Ray Bradbury creates is a character full of life. “Made the lungs blaze like a Christmas tree inside”, This description really underlines the personality of Mr Mead, the character.
Leonard Mead also enjoys his freedom. When he is walking his shadow is described as “moving like a shadow of a hawk in mid-country” which gives a radiant example of how much he is an outgoing person who enjoys the freedom of the outdoors.
Another example of word choice used in the passage is “a tomb-like building”. This is a bold statement to feeling of death.
“Picking up a leaf… examining its skeletal pattern… its rusty smell” creates a sense of aloneness and nothing else better to do. “A cloverleaf intersection which stood silent” and “these highways, too, were succession in the novel.
The police car which stops Mr Mead whilst out walking symbolises the deluded world controlled by technology. This comes to a beginning when Mr Mead has a conflict with a police car which is controlled by the government. With no driver or policeman the police car has own mind and speaks for itself. It stops Mr Mead and questions him. He asks him what he is doing out at this time on a Friday evening. Mr Mead replies by just saying that he is out walking. “Walking!”. The car seems to find it ridiculous that someone would just go out at night. He then asks Mr Mead what he is walking for. He answers by saying he is walking for “air and to see.” It says to Mr...