Symbolism In Ray Bradbury's 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 influenced. For instance, "But now these highways, too, were like streams in a dry season all stone and bed and moon radiance." Hence, this is displaying a fatalistic
…show more content…
With attention to, 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 whistle-stop is subdued of life. No life springs the story to be 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 the dead air; 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 …show more content…
but also, symbolism affects the theme of true living is thinking, doing, and connecting with nature and people. Lack of communication influences the soul of humanity. The unfurnished road shows the inadequacy of expression. "He came to a cloverleaf intersection which stood silent where two main highways crossed the town." The people are not vigorous, so they are not bringing together with the world. Authentic living requires major disclosing. Mead shares many of his viewpoints on the lack of human interaction. His theorems are habitually cynical. The vague houses array embryonic life. The illumination makes a reference to connections; because aglow means doing. Lustrous is the anatomy of all liveliness. Energy can be anything; from breathing to getting up and moving. The general public is spiritless. The people do not even ascend their homes. "And on his way home he would see the cottages and homes with their dark windows, and it was not unequal to walking through a graveyard..." Mead is interacting with the world; consequently he is existent. "On this particular evening he began his journey in a westerly direction, toward the hidden sea." This walk presents Mead as living. Mead, in conjuncture with, talked with another being. "Leonard mead, he said. Speak up! Leonard Mead!" Countless amounts of people have not touched base with anyone. Mead accounts for connecting with nature and

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    So what exactly were the general warnings given to us in the stories he wrote? "The car moved down the empty river-bed streets and off away, leaving the empty streets with the empty sidewalks, and no sound and no motion all the rest of the chill November night. " The Pedestrian was written to keep people unique, creative, and active.…

    • 997 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    War: Kills from the Inside Out Lars Fredrik Händler Svendsen, a famous Norwegian philosopher once stated that “self-identity is inextricably bound up with the identity of the surroundings.” Svendsen is arriving at the conclusion that one’s own identity is directly connected to their surroundings and so a change in environment would consequently alter one’s self-identity. Therefore, the violent and gruesome acts that are a product of war will alter the identity of those who are surrounded by such acts. Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road expresses how war consumes one’s identity through the utilization of symbolism.…

    • 1514 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    (TS): Technology is dangerous because someone can get so involved in it that eventually technology will become that person's entire life, this is the major message that Ray Bradbury is stating throughout the story. (MIP-1) Technology is everywhere and the characters in the book live and survive on technology. (MIP-2) People become so involved in technology that they become inhuman. (MIP-3) People who step away from technology gain real emotions and memories. (AGG) In Fahrenheit 451 there are many types of technology that are used everyday such as tv’s, earbuds, long billboards and mechanical hounds.…

    • 1019 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Any and all progress in a society has its roots in individual people breaking away and demanding change. Without these differing views that promote discussion and innovation, we will be left blinded by by the rules already set before us by others, not daring to think outside the lines. The novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury contains just such a society, where all contradictory ideas and the books that held them have been gradually destroyed and banned, till none remain accessible to the common person. Free thought is no longer taught in schools, and human beings have been reduced to identical unthinking beings unaware of their own decline. The only way to regain true freedom and self-identity is to attain the courage to refuse to mindlessly…

    • 1372 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Symbolism Within “The Veldt” Within literature, symbolism is used by assigning symbolic meanings to objects, settings, or actions to represent an idea or characteristic. In the short story “The Veldt,” Ray Bradbury uses various symbols within the text that allow the readers to identify what the author is trying to tell them. The symbols allow the readers to define the character of Wendy and Peter and the relationship they have with their parents and the house, a broader understanding of the setting and to understand the story’s theme. Wendy and Peter are the children of George and Lydia. The relationship they have isn’t as affectionate as it should be, since George installed machinery that would take care of them all, the children grew up learning that they would have everything handed to them and wouldn’t…

    • 1035 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Today, technology has a positive effect on us as a whole, but the negative effects of technology are starting to dominate people. In history, many authors have written books in the attempt to convey the potential downsides of technology. Fahrenheit 451 could potentially be a crystal ball. Ray Bradbury foresaw the negative future of technology in an overly dramatic view. However, if technology is produced at the rate that Ray Bradbury predicted, there might be a problem.…

    • 1656 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hugh Roberts Mr. Barclay English 10H 2 March 2017 The Exiles Imagine a society where the oppression of certain opinions and ideas is common. Imagine world world where Steve Jobs wasn't allowed to make the iPhone and the Wright Brothers were banned from flying planes. In the short story The Exiles by Ray Bradbury, this is the world the reader is introduced to. In The Exiles we are introduced to a society where supernaturalism is outlawed by society.…

    • 866 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Bradbury and Vonnegut wrote about events that they believed the future would become. Bradbury’s novel “Fahrenheit 451” was a twist on the job of firemen. Where as in Vonnegut’s short story “Harrison Bergeron” was written about the future where everyone was equal. Bradbury and Vonnegut were both visionaries on what they predicted would happen in the future. Some predictions that the authors made came true.…

    • 959 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In Ray Bradbury’s, “The Pedestrian”, there was a lot more figurative language. The story regarded the neighborhoods as being scary graveyards with ominous lights flickering upon the graves with the dead sitting inside, because of the TV lights flickering from the windows of the houses and the people mindlessly switching channels like drones. When Ray Bradbury was describing the police car, he said, “The car hesitated, or rather gave a faint whirring click, as if information, somewhere, was dropping card by punch-slotted card under electric eyes.” He was describing the police car with human characteristics mixed in with electronically based characteristics. This puts emphasis on how much…

    • 1603 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The Pedestrian” really shows Ray Bradbury’s skepticism of technology and progress it has made in "The Pedestrian." In this story, a popular way to help us pass time is shown through the perspective of it being regressive, outdated, and abnormal. Mr. Mead lives in a time in society when you are almost required to have a “viewing screen” in his house, Mr. Mead doesn’t do anything wrong by walking every night the authority in the story deems it as wrong and it will throw off the entire social stability of the community because the “viewing screen” is the only way for the government to distract the public and keep them under the microscope in a sense. So Mr. Mead is the off balance in the story because when he is not in front of his “viewing screen…

    • 239 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the story “ Marionettes, Inc.” Ray Bradbury conducted a prelusion effects throughout his sequence; he created a visual, that the underdog will overthrow it’s supreme oppressor .The same content was included in the story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt vonnegut, Jr. However, it was achieved in a divergent method;both writer’s take on their stories in dissimilar schemes, such as the environmental context,the theme of the stories, and . Furthermore, the author’s created duplicate aspect of tone; in the story “ Marionettes, Inc.” The main character hints a dreary mood, but has faith in change forthcoming, “Dear Rio.…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Pedestrian Analysis

    • 496 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In this story “The Pedestrian”, the main character feels something is terribly wrong. For example, it says in the text that, “Everything went on in the tomblike houses at night now, he thought, continuing his fancy. The tombs, ill-lit by television light, where the people sat like the dead, the gray or multicolored lights touching their faces, but never really touching them.” This is important because it tells us that everyone in the dystopian place where the main character Mr.Mead lived, do not like going outside and since Mr.Mead loves the outdoors, he feels that this is very wrong. Specifically, people don’t like going outside at night while Mr.Mead does.…

    • 496 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Pedestrian Symbolism

    • 411 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “The street was silent and long and empty, with only his shadow moving like the shadow of a hawk moving in mid-country,”(2). In the short story, “The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury, describes the feeling of being an outsider very well. Many can relate to this story because being an outsider is universal. Everyone in there life will inevitably feel like an outsider because there are different social classes, and people change over time. Feeling like you're on the outside has been around for many many years.…

    • 411 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Bradbury’s Warning To Society Bradbury’s novel can be used as a warning to society because he’s indicating that technology can take over a society completely. In today’s society technology makes up over half of most of our lives. We rely so much on it that we as humans start to not think for ourselves. We just let technology do all the thinking for us. Witch eats away at our ability to become more intelligent.…

    • 1039 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The world is a buzzing place with endless sites to see, people to meet and possessions to own. The problem with this buzzing society, is that we forget to live in the moment, and enjoy each day to the fullest. People are consumed with worrying about how much they ‘have’, which can leave them competitive, materialistic, selfish, and forgetting what is really important. Henry David Thoreau believes to combat this, people need to simplify their lives, minimize the amount of friends they have, meals they eat, and possessions they own (1102). Thoreau graduated from Harvard university and throughout his life he worked as a tutor, house painter, carpenter, mason, surveyor and pencil maker.…

    • 1088 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays