In Ray Bradbury’s short story The Pedestrian, the portrayal of the main character Leonard Mead and his love for irrelevant, bygone practices, such as writing and going on walks, locked in conflict with the futuristic civilization that he lives in, who are all obsessed with anything that appears on their screens, symbolizes the unsightly truths of the corrupting nature of and flaws of society.
Mead lives amongst a population that is solely focused upon the consumption of technology. Unimaginable fascination with nature and all the thoughts one cannot find on the tv screens eventually gets him into trouble with the police. Bradbury uses the police car as the solitary regulator in the city finding “recalcitrants” and taking them away, presumably forever, thus the community can continue to exist with only one mind, instilled with the never-ending need to watch tv. Because the population has been brainwashed absolutely, there is only a need for a single police car, and even then it is not operated by a human as evidenced by the author’s description of the voice that emanates from the car. “A metallic voice called to him: ‘Your hands up! Or we'll Shoot!’ The police, of course, but what a rare, incredible thing” (3) While …show more content…
Mead’s isolation is further illustrated by the lack of human contact, “ In ten years of walking by night or by day, for thousands of miles, he had never met another person walking, not once in all that time.” (2). The main character understands he is an outcast partly due to his own detachment, but also because of his community’s perception of him as a peculiar disturbance. Since he believes he is in the right, he finds it humorous that everyone deems him eccentric. When asked about a partner, he is unapologetic and brutally honest, “‘Nobody wanted me,’ said Leonard Mead with a smile.”
Mead lives amongst a population that is solely focused upon the consumption of technology. Unimaginable fascination with nature and all the thoughts one cannot find on the tv screens eventually gets him into trouble with the police. Bradbury uses the police car as the solitary regulator in the city finding “recalcitrants” and taking them away, presumably forever, thus the community can continue to exist with only one mind, instilled with the never-ending need to watch tv. Because the population has been brainwashed absolutely, there is only a need for a single police car, and even then it is not operated by a human as evidenced by the author’s description of the voice that emanates from the car. “A metallic voice called to him: ‘Your hands up! Or we'll Shoot!’ The police, of course, but what a rare, incredible thing” (3) While …show more content…
Mead’s isolation is further illustrated by the lack of human contact, “ In ten years of walking by night or by day, for thousands of miles, he had never met another person walking, not once in all that time.” (2). The main character understands he is an outcast partly due to his own detachment, but also because of his community’s perception of him as a peculiar disturbance. Since he believes he is in the right, he finds it humorous that everyone deems him eccentric. When asked about a partner, he is unapologetic and brutally honest, “‘Nobody wanted me,’ said Leonard Mead with a smile.”