The Pedestrian Setting

Ray Bradbury uses a dreary setting, the effect of television, and comparisons to a world without television to one with it in the short story, The Pedestrian to develop the idea that the overconsumption of television ultimately causes a society to become bleak. The story takes place in a futuristic world where the society is consumed in television and technology. The plot follows a man named Mr. Leonard Mead who is walking in the evening as usual, and as a result he is arrested. Bradbury uses this futuristic world to demonstrate how a society can deteriorate due to people becoming consumed in television. A bright and lively society consists of human and worldly interactions, and a bleak society is one that lacks brightness and livelihood. Firstly, …show more content…
Leonard Mead is in, Bradbury uses connotative language to demonstrate the dullness in the society. The author uses the phrase, “long moonlit avenues” to illustrate the setting of the story. Since moonlight is often associated with dark and grey locations, Bradbury is implying that the society of The Pedestrian is one that takes place in a grey setting. This ultimately reveals that a society consumed in television leads it to become bleak as the grey setting of the story represents how the society has deteriorated due to people becoming consumed in television. Bradbury also writes, “he was alone in this world” when describing the setting of Mr. Leonard Mead when he is out for his walk. The author uses this idea in the setting to show that the society is not one of which is lively as there is minimal human and worldly interactions. Without these interactions, a society is seen as bleak as it shows how it has deteriorated from a bright and active society. The speaker goes on to say, “he would stride off, sending patterns of frosty air before him like the smoke of a cigar,” using a simile to compare the cold air to smoke of a cigar. This comparison ultimately shows how the society has become bleak as the smoke of a cigar is dry. By referring to the air of the society as dry, Bradbury shows the reader how the society is bleak as the dryness in the air demonstrates how bare the interactions with people are. Therefore, the setting of …show more content…
Tombs are enclosed, dark spaces for the dead, so referring to a home as a tomb really deepens the understanding that people are so consumed in television that their personal lives have diminished. The society have personal lives that essentially do not exist as they are seemingly living in constant darkness when they are in their own homes. The lack of human interactions causes the society to be bleak as the livelihood of the society has deteriorated. After comparing people’s homes to tombs the narrator goes on to say, “people sat like the dead.” The simile the speaker uses furthers the idea that people have diminished the livelihood and interpersonal interactions of the society. When the author uses the dead to compare how the people of the society behave it directly demonstrates how the livelihood of the society has heavily decayed. Without livelihood the society is seen as bleak, and this is ultimately caused by the overconsumption of television. After Bradbury writes how people do nothing but watch television he further writes, “lights touching their faces, but never really touching them.” The fact that the speaker previously states that “people sat like the dead” - meaning that the people of the society never do anything - and then further explains that even when they are watching television

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