![]() ![]() This passage is very symbolic and uses multiple things to portray the emptiness and loneliness of the streets. If he closed his eyes and stood very still, frozen, he could imagine himself upon the centre of a plain, a wintry, windless American desert with no house in a thousand miles, and only the dry riverbed, the streets, for company.” (p154) On Leonard’s walk he notes that “The street was silent and long and empty, with only his shadow moving like the shadow of a hawk in mid-country. During Leonard Mead’s evening walk, he reflects on why people stay at home and what they do. The result of advancements in technology is also shown in “The Pedestrian” through the empty streets. A world designed by humans should be controlled by them, when technology takes over, a problem has arrived. This symbol of no mercy shows that technology is in control of the humans in a world designed and build by humans, Leonard Mead is out for a walk, where is the crime in that? And yet the police car insists he go to the psychiatric ward for questioning, without giving Leonard a chance to explain. The symbol of the car being empty with no police officer represents no chance for excuse or repentance. The fact that it is black shows that a criminal or potential criminal is not given any chance for imagination or creativity, no colour represents no excitement or happiness. The “little black jail with bars” shows hat the police car is a jail cell on wheels. In this passage, Ray Bradbury uses many symbols to represent impersonality. ![]() It smelled of harsh antiseptic it smelled too clean and hard and metallic. “He put his hand to the door and peered into the back seat, which was a little cell, a little black jail with bars. After he tries to explain his reasoning for walking the police car orders him to get in, and informs him that he is going to be taken to a psychiatric ward. Leonard Mead is on his nightly walk and is approached by an empty police car, he is questioned about his walking and if he has reason to do it. Ray Bradbury expresses the negative impact of technology in “The Pedestrian” through the use of the empty police car. In “The Pedestrian” impersonality is shown to be the result of advancements in technology through the symbolic use if the empty police car, the empty streets and the continuous viewing of television. The short story “The Pedestrian”, written by Ray Bradbury, is set fifty years from today. When one thinks of how impersonal western civilization is today, try to imagine life fifty years from now. Since online chat rooms and email, the use of the telephone has become almost obsolete, and people rarely meet face-to-face. With the advancements of kitchen appliances, time is rarely spent with ones family in the kitchen whether it is to cook, wash dishes, or just socialize. ![]() Take, for instance, the advancement of the entertainment industry people’s idea of a social night out is “going to the movies”, where there is very limited social interaction. ![]() Since the turn of the century, new technology has slowly begun to create an anti-social and impersonal society. ![]()
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