Humankind has made great progress towards technology in the 1950s, such as the television; however, as children give up reading and playing outdoors to plug into the television set, one might wonder whether we are progressing or regressing. Ray Bradbury might have been afraid of the world that he had predicted, a future where technology hinders us more than it helps. He wrote about such a thing in the short story, The Pedestrian, where he described living in a technological world -- ruled by television-- is as good as being alone. Ray Bradbury’s purpose of writing The Pedestrian could be to warn the people of the future and how technology could impact them.
To begin with, television was still in its infancy when Bradbury published The Pedestrian in 1951. Televisions became a primary medium for influencing the public’s opinion in the 1950s, which led to people watching it all day. Some people did not come out and socialize. Ray Bradbury’s motivation of writing The Pedestrian was to prove the impact television can have on people. For example, in the short story The Pedestrian, there was a scene where the police car questioned Leonard Mead for an innocent walk through the neighborhood; it thought that Leonard Mead was insane and abnormal because he was not inside his house watching his television like the general …show more content…
Our individuality breaks down, and we become vassals. The Pedestrian is conveying Ray Bradbury’s messages about the controlling powers of technology and the government, and it leads us to the some questions: If a person such as Leonard Mead cannot live his life with freedom and imagination then what is there to live for? Ray Bradbury has given a warning of what life might lie ahead if mankind relinquishes its humanity to progress. It would be a great loss to watch children grow into hard, cold machine rather than warm-hearted
To begin with, television was still in its infancy when Bradbury published The Pedestrian in 1951. Televisions became a primary medium for influencing the public’s opinion in the 1950s, which led to people watching it all day. Some people did not come out and socialize. Ray Bradbury’s motivation of writing The Pedestrian was to prove the impact television can have on people. For example, in the short story The Pedestrian, there was a scene where the police car questioned Leonard Mead for an innocent walk through the neighborhood; it thought that Leonard Mead was insane and abnormal because he was not inside his house watching his television like the general …show more content…
Our individuality breaks down, and we become vassals. The Pedestrian is conveying Ray Bradbury’s messages about the controlling powers of technology and the government, and it leads us to the some questions: If a person such as Leonard Mead cannot live his life with freedom and imagination then what is there to live for? Ray Bradbury has given a warning of what life might lie ahead if mankind relinquishes its humanity to progress. It would be a great loss to watch children grow into hard, cold machine rather than warm-hearted