Literary Analysis of “The Pedestrian”

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Will Edwards Professor Hubbard ENGL 112 2 April 2021

Literary Analysis of “The Pedestrian” Literature can come in many forms, from poems to novels to even short story, each one has a specific purpose, composed and thought out by the author, to portray a certain theme.

Specifically, short stories work to express a theme in a couple pages of text in way that reader understands and can relate to. Ray Bradbury writes a short story titled, “The Pedestrian,” where he portrays a man walking the streets of a town in the year 2053, where virtually everyone is consumed by technology. Bradbury also includes parts of the story that depict different ramifications that can follow a world revolved by technology, for instance dehumanization.

Overall, Ray Bradbury’s short story “The Pedestrian” is a thought-provoking literary work underlying the possible dangers that a world consumed by technology will one day amount to, through the use of specific imagery, metaphors, and a provided exposition.

There are several instances where the author uses familiar images to further extract the story’s theme, and ultimately allow readers to ponder on the realities brought to light in the story.

Imagery is a popular literary device used by many authors to make the readers feel as if they are in the shoes of the main characters and allows a mood and theme to be more understood.

Bradbury begins his story by characterizing a man walking down the street, “He would stand upon the corner of an intersection and peer down long moonlit avenues of pavement in four directions, deciding which way to go, but it really made no difference” (pg. 97). This act of

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imagery, one allows readers to put themselves in the man’s shoes of walking down a sidewalk during the night, and two intrigues them to continue reading to wonder what will happen to this man as the story progresses. This device is specifically utilized by the author to grab the reader’s attention, and to keep their attention while portraying the theme throughout the literary work.

Later on, in the story, Bradbury works in an allusion to the theme of the story by writing “The cement was vanishing under flowers and grass. In ten years of walking by night or day, for thousands of miles, he had never met another person walking, not one in all that time” (pg. 98).

The quote begins with imagery and then slowly transitions into an expression of the theme, which is all due to the role technology has played in people’s lives. In 2053, no one goes outside anymore, everyone stays inside consumed by technology, hence why the man walking has never seen another person walking in all the years he has walked at night. The author then uses other literary devices to build off the underlying theme set.

Metaphors work to compare two unlike things to bring out a greater meaning, and Bradbury uses many to bring to light the horrors of dehumanization that are followed by a world surrounded by technology. Bradbury begins his use of metaphors by describing “Sudden grey phantoms seemed to manifest upon inner room walls where a curtain was still undrawn against the night, or there were whisperings and murmurs where a window in a tomb-like building was still open” (pg. 97). Here Bradbury compares his walk on the street as walking in a graveyard and compares the people in the houses on the streets to ghosts that faintly appear every so often.

This comparison allows readers to begin to understand the affects technology can have on people, it can turn people into ghosts that live in the dark and works to inhibit their interactions with anything outside of their house. The author ultimately uses this metaphor to scare readers by informing them of the realities on a culture consumed by technology. Bradbury, then continues to

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describe the man’s encounter with the police by describing “A metallic voice called to him,” and “the light held him fixed, like a museum specimen, needle thrust through chest” (pg. 98). Here the author correlates the police’s voice to a robot’s voice and expresses the main character as “museum specimen.” This works to show the role of the government in a technology driven society, and the presence of dehumanization. This reality depicted by Bradbury’s metaphors works to inform readers of the harsh realities associated with a world induced by technology.

Finally, throughout Bradbury’s short story, he utilizes exposition by providing a background to the world the main character is living in. This explained background allows readers to compare the current state of the world in regard to technology to the story and the ramifications that follow. First, the author explains the relevance of police in the city with nearly 3 million people, “ever since a year ago, 2052, the election year, the force had been cut down from three cars to one. Crime was ebbing; there was no need now for the police” (pg. 98). This exposition allows readers to infer that there was no need for police because no one came out of their house, as described throughout the story. This allows readers to understand the dehumanization described in the story and the reality of the effects technology can have on a society. Later as the police are questioning the main character, they ask him if he has a job, and he replies that he was a writer, but now he is unemployed because “He hadn’t written in years.

Magazines and books didn't sell any more” (pg. 98). This also works to portray the realities associated with a technology driven society, many jobs are gotten rid of because they can either be taken over by technology or they are simply not relevant anymore. Overall the short story portrays a world overtaken by technology as an unfavorable situation to many.

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