Analysis Of The Pedestrian By Ray Bradbury

Imagine being alone in the world of 2053. No one to talk to and no one to walk with. Imagine where walking outside wasn’t normal, where the world’s finest technology exists. In Ray Badbury’s dystopian story “The Pedestrian” Leonard Mead, the main character in the short story, decides he wants to go out walking at night instead of being inside like everyone else and watch t.v. Leonard has been going outside and walking when no one else wants to for 10 years. He has not been following this law for 10 years straight, and has never once been caught. One lesson for this short story is if you decide to do different than what you're told, then be careful on what you do.

In the beginning, Bradbury has made it clear to the readers Leonard is the only one who walks outside at night. Which connects to my theme because sometimes people don’t want to do the same thing as other people, but they have to be careful on how far they go. Bradbury uses many

techniques to show us how Leonard is doing the opposite of what he is told. “Sometimes he would walk for hours and miles and return only at midnight to his house.” This illustrates that, Leonard walks at night, when he is not supposed to. Eventually, “On his way he would see the cottages and homes with their dark windows...” This line shows that, when he would return no one would be outside because they are following the laws unlike Leonard who is not following the law.

In the middle, there are people sitting in their houses watching t.v or there are dark windows and silence from the house.

Bradbury also describes the silent neighborhoods Leonard sees as he’s walking. He uses, again, author’s craft to illustrate the picture of people sitting in their homes and watching t.v while Leonard is out walking when he is not supposed to. “The tombs, ill-lit by television light, where the people sat like the dead, the gray and multicolored lights touching their faces.” This clearly states, the people sit in their houses and watch t.v unlike Leonard who does not watch t.v. “He came to a cloverleaf intersection which stood silent where two main highways crossed the town. During the day it was a thunderous surge of cars and gas stations open... But now, these highways, too, were like streams in a dry season...” This scene clearly states, the town is silent at night, no one is out except for Leonard. He is doing the opposite of what he is told. What kind of person does that make you think Leonard

is?

Some people might argue Leonard wants to do what he likes and he wants to do what he is interested in, but they forgot, he is technically breaking the law in this case. The law was to stay inside and not go outside. Leonard is definitely breaking the law, because going outside is not the normal thing to do at night, you were supposed to go inside and watch t.v but Leonard didn't do that.

In the end, Leonard is slightly confused as to why he is in the situation he is in. He doesn’t quite understand why he is in trouble. All Leonard was doing was walking outside at night, and he wasn’t harming anyone, but the reason he is in so much trouble with the car is because he was outside and that was a crime all by itself. This is significant because, you have to be careful on how far you go before you could get in trouble.