Greyson Calore
I sat with my father as Nico chats with his fiancé, my best friend. I am so happy for them even when I know what is coming, the thing that could end it all for everyone in this room, that is why I encouraged this meeting to happen. They have no idea what I have been through even as everything happened. "Alister here tells me you studied the pedestrian by Ray Bradbury."
"I have"
"Can you tell me what it is about?"
The pedestrian by Ray Bradbury is about a man who was called Leonard Mead and he was wronged by a society who are all addicted to technology and there was a police car who had nobody in the backseat, fully used by someone with technology and they wrongly arrest Leonard Mead. It is based on Los Angeles in A.D 2053 and the theme of the pedestrian is addiction to technology and how it will affect us in the future. The pedestrian is also about how technology will isolate and keep us locked indoors and that if we go outside, it'd be seen as either committing a crime or being mentally insane. Bradbury explains this in detail with imagery and sentence structure, using these techniques to create a vivid picture in the reader's head.
The setting of the pedestrian is all about how it is deserted and that nobody is around, Bradbury does this through Leonard Mead. This tells the reader that the Los Angeles of A.D 2053 is deserted and isolated. "He was alone in the world of A.D 2053". This tells us that Leonard Mead was the only one who stood out. This contributes to the theme of technology since Leonard Mead is the only one who goes outdoors and everyone else in indoors watching television.
The setting is described as dead to further explain about how the place is empty as if there was nobody there at all, even though there were, they're all just inside the houses, never outside. Bradbury compares the city to something quiet and lifeless. "Not unequal to walking through a graveyard". This tells us that the city of Los Angeles is like a lifeless place because everyone is inside on technology, watching television and not being outside or social.
The character of Leonard Mead helps the theme of technology stand out since he is the only one NOT addicted to it. The police car who had arrested him never let him walk free, instead he had been taken to a special hospital for people who aren't mentally stable. Though Mead had tried to plead guilty. "I haven't done anything". This tells us that the society that Mead is in doesn't care for going on walks and they fully don't understand why people would choose to and that it was abnormal to not have a television. This helps the theme of technology stand out since Mead is unaffected and it was wrong not to be addicted to technology.
The character of Mead is hooked onto his never-ending doom, his arrest. The use of imagery used to describe how captivated Mead was just looking at the police car, that he knew was the thing that would bring him down. "He was stunned by the illumination, not unlike a night moth, then drawn towards it". This contributes to the theme of addiction to technology since he was drawn to a robot car that was arresting him for not being addicted to technology which also describes that the society is so addicted to the technology since it is wrong do not to be addicted to television.
The theme of the pedestrian is addiction to technology. This is described through the society of Los Angeles of A.D 2053. This is described through mentioning a normally remarkably busy place, with people bustling to get places. "Highways, too, were like streams in the dry season". This tells us that a busy place like a motorway is left empty, with nothing going on. This contributes to technology since society are so addicted to technology, they want to be watching television all the time, and they don't want to go out since they're so busy on technology instead.
The theme of the pedestrian is society's addiction to technology and how it affects us being outside. Leonard Mead had gone on walks all the time and had gotten arrested for it. The society wouldn't be extremely healthy from being inside all the time since you need vitamin D. "In ten years...he had never seen another person walking". This contributes to the theme of technology since Leonard Mead was always on walks and nobody else was outside, for the whole "ten years".
In my opinion the pedestrian is summed up by the quote "Empty" which is repeated three times in the closing paragraph, and it contributes to the theme of addiction to technology since everyone is inside, so the city is empty, deserted and that there is only Leonard Mead walking outside.
Ray Bradbury's intent of the pedestrian is to warn people in the future that technology is helpful to us today though that if we get addicted that there will be downfalls. Bradbury put what could happen and that it would get worse that one lone person would be wronged for being right. Bradbury explains in full detail how technology will affect society in a way that is exaggerated at the time but now it is much more likely since we now have iPhones, iPads, tablets and much more, and people are so addicted to their phones in the today most likely worse than the addiction that Ray Bradbury had faced, the pedestrian could become reality and that is what Bradbury is warning us, that we have to get over the addiction to technology to manage to live life properly instead of being glued to a screen with flashing lights.
The pedestrian by Ray Bradbury is about how technology affects us mentally and physically, what the negative future impacts will be and how the society will change. It gives a strong insight of how being outside could be seen as a crime and that everything will be run digitally and not the normal manually and there will be less jobs in the future since there will be no need to do it since technology will do it for you."
I fall silent, no one should care about this as much as I do, such as to know the exact quotations.
Nicolas watches me enthusiastically, though I have no idea why, has he studied it too?
Al being Al smiles and turns to the table changing the topic and saving me a lot.
There is something odd about being at a table with my twin so casually this is too weird limits are pushing at me trying to force me into my cage. I hate it, how I feel their eyes on me, all the fucking time.
I shudder the feeling freaking drugs haven't kicked in, damned be the shit doctor that gave me them. I feel too cold and then just as I stand to leave Nicolas stands as well, at the same time, I was hoping to call Lief to arrange...something that could be possible though it's been difficult now that people keep waiting for Nicolas and I are standing oddly as father boasts that we are flesh and blood, well nah, he is my twin, we have the same face!
I wait for a while and there is something that could of went well, changed as soon as father touches a beer, though. It isn't such a dreadful thing.
Lief, I know he's going to make sure there is no other...changes to my plans, though Lief should be able to recharge the machine and we'll be the ones surviving around the pits of the disgusting pit of demons. Father wants Nicolas as the heir and that's a plan that I could of ran with unless if he was too weak and relied on people too much leaving him defenceless.