Essay Prompt: Explain Ray Bradbury’s purpose in writing “The Pedestrian.”
After the Industrial Revolution, society has rapidly progressed technologically. Today, the development of superior technology is significantly changing the lifestyles of millions of people around the world. For instance, many households own a television, VCR, DVD, mp3, cell phone, GPS, computer, fax machine, digital camera, and etc. Our dependence on such devices is harmful. In “The Pedestrian,” Ray Bradbury portrays through the eyes of Leonard Mead what the world looks like in 2053. Bradbury depicts television’s role in society; people stay indoors, being conformed and brainwashed by what is broadcasted on television. In Mead’s world, the streets are deserted, suggesting how the people have abandoned individuality and have isolated themselves from the natural world. Bradbury’s purpose in writing this short story is to warn us against the addiction of technology.
Bradbury warns his readers against the addiction of technology by depicting the way people live in 2053. The main character, Leonard Mead, walks alone every night for fresh air, and he describes the people who live in his neighborhood as “gray phantoms” who live in “tomblike building[s]” in a “graveyard,” (47). The lifeless neighborhood is the consequence of people isolating themselves within their homes watching television. Bradbury exaggerates the dead society that is created by the lack of motion and action in Mead’s neighborhood. People, although alive, are in actuality “dead,” in that they are no longer individuals who can think and act for themselves. Furthermore, Mead explains how “in ten years of walking by night or day, for thousands of miles, he had never met another person walking, not one in all that time,” (49). The fear-inspiring description of a dehumanized society reminds readers about the importance of social communication with another human being. The absence of interaction with another human being...