Setting And Symbolism In The Pedestrian By Ray Braddbury

Improved Essays
Superior writers use a vast number of well-used elements. It is key to use exceptional elements if you thrive to be a great writer. An example of a writer with higher-level elements is Ray Bradbury. Bradbury has a famous short story called "The Pedestrian." The "Pedestrian" is a futuristic story about a man who is not involved with the world. Bradbury uses setting, figurative language, and symbolism to affect the overall succession of the story.

First, Bradbury uses figurative language to portray the negative view of technology on people. He uses similes to show how people are affected. For example, "But now these highways, too, were like streams in a dry season all stone and bed and moon radiance." Hence, this is showing a fatalistic side
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The simile is specifying that the roads are empty like dry streams. The streets are empty; since everyone is occupied from the sanity. "The light held him fixed like a museum specimen, needle thrust through chest." Symbolizing, Mr. Mead has not seen light in a while. The light is vanished; considering the people do not use them. "...Where the people sat like the dead, the gray or multicolored lights their faces, but never really touching them." Sought as dead, the people are absorbed in technology. Also, Bradbury uses metaphors in his story. "He stood entranced not unlike a night moth, stunned by the illumination, then drawn toward it." Referring to him as a person who has not seen luminosity in a while. "The moon was high and clear among the stars and the houses were gray and silent." The house being gray and silent refers to the people not communicating, and the people being consumed in their homes. Personification …show more content…
Furthermore, the town's people are isolated. "...He would see cottages and homes with their dark windows ... light appeared in flickers behind the windows." This is explaining that the town is dim. The town is subdued of life. No life causes the story more of a depressing mood. "The street was silent long and empty, with only his shadow moving like a shadow of a hawk in mid country." This constructs the mood to be sadder: for the reason that it shows the town is empty. "In ten years of walking by night or day, for thousands of miles, he had never met another person walking, not once in all that time." To emphasize, ten years is a long time for not seeing anyone. The people do not get-up-and-go outside: since they are consumed by indoor technology. No company gets mournful after a while, especially if you are lonely. Fewer people form a more melancholic life; which leads to a bleaker mood. Not to mention, the town is not lively. The root of life comes from people. The people stay indoors, so the life is gone. "...He was alone in this world of A.D. 2053." "...To enter into the silence...through the silences, that was what Mr. Leonard Mead most dearly loved to do." The world of people is so quiet and bland. He walks into silence, that is due to the mood of the people being morbid. In like manner, the town and the people are not welcoming. "It smelled of harsh antiseptic; it smelled too clean and harsh and metallic."

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