While everyone is at home, captivated by their televisions, Leonard finds fulfilment by doing what he enjoys instead of caving into societal expectations. Despite Leonard’s seemingly mundane activity of taking a walk in the evening, the empty streets and scrutiny he faces for doing so demonstrate that what he is doing is unusual in his society. The juxtaposition of conformity and individualism is evident throughout the text. By depicting the police car as an entity that is able to decide Leonard’s fate and place him into a psychiatric institution stripped of dignity and freedom.Īdditionally, the institution’s name being the “Psychiatric Centre for Research on Regressive Tendencies” suggests that modernisations and progress requires people to detach themselves from their humanity and separate themselves from nature in order to progress.ĭespite its short story form, The Pedestrian explores several themes within the text, which can be used to help guide your writing: In the 1950s, the television was just becoming a common technology in households and Bradbury expresses anxiety about the television converting people into mindless, zombie-like masses.īradbury’s short story depicts the lack of trust in institutions. While technology is often paraded as progress for humanity, Bradbury highlights a pessimistic view of technological advances in the 1950s through the television, automobiles and computers that removes people from their humanity. Despite the technological advances of the early 20th Century, humanity had witnessed two world wars and the devastation of atomic bombs. Written during the Cold War era, Bradbury explores several key themes within this short story. If not, it alludes to the industrialisation and lack of humanity in society. If so, they are as empty and uncaring as the automated police car. With a “metallic voice” and incessant interrogation, the police car represents the automation, industrialisation, and surveillance that Americans were subject to during the Cold War.įurthermore, the reveal at the end that the police car is empty leaves the reader with the question of whether there is a human behind the voice. In contrast, the police car serves as a representation of the people in the dystopian world Leonard is in. While we may be tempted to think of Leonard’s physical world as cold, grey and sterile, Bradbury makes sure to remind us that nature is overtaking the city’s infrastructure and reclaiming its spot within the land. He greets each house as he walks past, and observes the overgrown paths as the “cement was vanishing under flowers and grass”. The opening of the short story depicts him stepping out into a “misty evening in November” doing an activity he “most dearly loved to do”. Leonard is portrayed as a simple man with simple pleasures. Leonard’s departure from social norms has him arrested and brought to the “Psychiatric Centre for Research on Regressive Tendencies”.Īccess The Pedestrian by Ray Bradbury Downloadable Sample Paragraph and Examples of Analysis here!įor Bradbury’s short story there are only two key characters who are portrayed in opposition to each other: Mr Leonard Mead and the Police Car. Through this interaction, we realise the lack of agency and self-determination citizens in this dystopian have.ĭespite engaging in the harmless activity of taking an evening walk, Leonard is immediately placed under suspicion due to his departure from the social norms of his society.Īs his interrogation continues, the police car discovers that he does not have a wife, does not own a television and instead is a writer. On this night, Leonard is confronted by an automated police car that questions his reasons for going on an evening stroll. Instead, most citizens are in their homes, fixated to their televisions - Mead is an anomaly in his city, with different values and continues to appreciate the small traces of nature he can find in his surroundings. While Leonard takes his walks every evening, he has never encountered another walker. It is a dystopian setting as we follow Mr Leonard Mead as he takes his solitary walk through the deserted city. Written in 1951, The Pedestrian is set more than 100 years later in the year of A.D 2053. Let’s get right into it! The Pedestrian Summary Key Characters in The Pedestrian Context Themes Explored in The Pedestrian Analysis of The Pedestrian Studying this Text for the HSC Summary of The Pedestrian This will be a comprehensive guide to the text - whether you need help wrapping your head around the meaning of the short story or are looking for additional resources for your writing, we have you covered. So you’ve been assigned Ray Bradbury’s The Pedestrian as one of the texts you need to conduct an analysis for in Module C: The Craft of Writing.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |