Introducing the text

The Pedestrian is a science-fiction short story by Ray Bradbury about a man who, after nightfall, roams aimlessly and compulsively about the silent streets of a nameless city. It is set in a totalitarian society in 2053, roughly a hundred years after it was written. On one of his usual walks, he encounters a police car, which is possibly robotic. It is the only police unit in a city of three million, since the purpose of law enforcement has disappeared with everyone watching television at night. When asked about his profession, Mead tells the car that he is a writer, but the car does not understand, since no one buys books or magazines in the television-dominated society. Neither the police car nor its occupants can understand why Mead would be out walking for no reason and so decides to take him to the Psychiatric Center for Research on Regressive Tendencies

Symbols

What is symbolized by the image of Leonard's shadow as the “shadow of a hawk in midcountry”?

This represents Leonard's agency and freedom. He's “free as a bird” in the country as he takes his nighttime walk. When he's confined to the car's jail cell, he becomes a caged bird.

What is symbolized by the contrast of light and dark between Leonard's home and the other homes?

As the police car takes Leonard away, he sees his house which "had all of its electric lights brightly lit, every window a loud yellow illumination, square and warm in the cool darkness."   This could symbolize Leonard's enlightenment. He doesn't want to feed his mind with the vapid television programming, preferring the silence of a nighttime walk. The people who are conforming are in darkness, with only "gray phantoms" from their viewing screens.  It could also symbolize Leonard's aberrant attitude. Normal houses look cold and eerie, while Leonard's place looks warm and welcoming. His house stands out just as much as he does when he's out walking.

Perfect Prose: “The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury

Today I’m covering a short story that may already be familiar to some from high school English classes. Ray Bradbury is the author of many famous dystopian, science fiction and fantasy works such as Fahrenheit 451, and I was introduced to the short story “The Pedestrian” as an introduction to that novel.  I picked this story for analysis because I remember how vivid it was, and how it was the first time I really understood the way words could be used to draw somebody into a story. 10th grade was the year I started seriously learning about the writing craft and working on my own books, and this was the first time I really read like a writer. The act of being able to pick apart a story and learn how it works and then using that knowledge to put your own stories together is a valuable skill that I need to practice more, and it’s what I’m hoping to share with you. So let’s see what we can learn together, shall we?

Written in 1951 and clearly reflective of the themes of his other works, “The Pedestrian” follows the footsteps of Leonard Mead as he quietly rebels against the system of conformity in the world around him – literally. The story is about a man who likes walking after dark, when such a past time is rare because everyone else is obsessed with the TV and rat-race of adult life. It’s a not-so-subtle dig at the uniform landscapes of suburban America and the new screens that were filling up living rooms. But whether or not you agree with the themes of the story, the writing is immersive and vivid. When writing a short story, every word has to count, and so they are a good choice to analyze for the intentionality behind each line of prose and how motifs develop. With that being said, this is how the story opens:

To enter out into that silence that was the city at eight o’clock of a misty evening in November, to put your feet upon that buckling concrete walk, to step over grassy seams and make your way, hands in pockets, through the silences, that was what Mr. Leonard Mead most dearly loved to do.

Opening lines

Bradbury introduces the readers to a slow quiet evening by starting the story with such a long, rambley sentence, full of infinitive verbs (the “to be” form as opposed to an action verb). The use of “showing” language instead of simply saying “Mr. Leonard Mead liked to walk”, helps lead the reader along, as if they’re coming on the walk with Mr. Mead. He sets off from his home and chooses a path as meandering as the sentence because, “it made really made no difference; he was alone in this world of A.D. 2053, or as good as alone…”

Bradbury takes his time setting the scene – not by explaining the history of the world up until this far futuristic date (100 years to him) but by introducing us to the character, grounding the reader in a familiar environment, and immediately juxtaposing him to his known world so we know that earth is not the same as it once was. He walks when no one else does. The story continues setting the scene by comparing the experience of walking among the dark houses to walking in a graveyard, driving home the point that Mr. Leonard Mead is alone.

Only the faintest glimmers of firefly light appeared in flickers behind the windows. Sudden gray 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.

There are other people in this world, but they are seemingly trapped indoors and flighty as ghosts – the only interaction with them is their shadows.  The story goes on to talk about how he wears sneakers, to avoid the attention drawn by the sound of clacking heels. The meandering pace continues to match the pace of his walk as he moves down the street. He whispers mocking greetings and questions to the people inside their houses though they do not answer, and we learn that he has never met another person walking – not in the ten years he has been practicing this ritual. He comes to a highway that is described in a similar way to the houses:

During the day it was a thunderous surge of cars… a great insect rustling and a ceaseless jockeying for position as the scarab-beetles, a faint incense puttering from their exhausts, skimmed homeward to the far directions. But now these highways, too, were like streams in a dry season, all stone and bed and moon radiance.

This passage uses descriptive sensory language that goes beyond the way the road looks – they’re strips of concrete, they’re not that interesting on their own. But when the traffic becomes a “thunderous surge,” you can feel the rumbling beneath your feet and smell the exhaust fumes. The cars become a horde of insects in a metaphor that is unsettling and creepy. 

He was within a block of his destination when the lone car turned a corner quite suddenly and flashed a fierce white cone of light upon him. He stood entranced, not unlike a night moth, stunned by the illumination, and then drawn toward it…The light held him fixed like a museum specimen, needle thrust through the chest.

An encounter with the lone police car

The police car – an autonomous vehicle as empty as the rest of the world with nothing but a metallic voice and its harsh spotlight – is the only one in the city of three million people. It begins interrogating Leonard about his demographics, family, and profession in a repetitive robotic conversation. When he claims he is a writer, the car puts down, “no profession.” since no books or magazines have sold in ages. It cannot fathom why he would leave the screens to go out and get air when there is air conditioner in his house. It cannot understand when Leonard says he has no screen. Without stating his crime, the door clicks open and the car ushers him in. He protests, but climbs in and the jail smells of steel, antiseptic, and hard edges. The door shuts with a thud and they drive away. Instead of stopping at his own warm house with soft lamplight pouring from the windows, the car continues on, and states that he will be taken to the Psychiatric Center for Research on Regressive Tendencies. The world is a utopia because there is no crime, but there is no individualism either and he will be studied for his non-conformity. The final description of the story drives home how despite being full of people, the city has become a cold dead shell of what it should be:

The car moved down the empty river-bed streets and off away, leaving the empty streets with the empty side-walks, and no sound and no motion all the rest of the chill November night.

Final Lines

This is a grim, but effective, example of how language can be used to convey the mood and tone that surrounds the content of a story.

Themes

Technology has the capacity to numb people and make them apathetic.

People in 2053 stay inside in the evenings to watch television. The programming seems designed to keep people passive—shows about cowboys, war, games, revues and slapstick comedy. There don't seem to be any shows that would make people think. Related to this is the disappearance of reading. There's no serious writing being done about anything important. 

“ 'No profession,' said the police car, as if talking to itself.”

“Magazines and books didn’t sell any more. Everything went on in the tomb-like houses…”

“The tombs, ill-lit by television light, where the people sat like the dead, the grey or multi-coloured lights touching their faces, but never really touching them.”

An alienated society will result in loneliness.

As people become more and more dependent upon technology, society becomes less and less connected. Leonard Mead's actions, and the situation in which he finds himself, repeatedly highlight his loneliness. There's no evening activity in this world. Human interaction outside your own family seems to be limited to the day time. This is likely to take care of necessary things like working and running errands. There's no sense of community. These societal norms serve to isolate Leonard. He walks alone. He's also not married. His non-conformist behavior could have been too alienating for anyone to see him as a suitable match.

“ 'Hello, in there,' he whispered to every house on every side as he moved.”

“ ‘Nobody wanted me,’ said Leonard Mead with a smile.”

“He was alone in this world of A.D., 2053 or as good as alone…”

Cities will decline and die without human interaction. 

Several recurring details and examples of imagery add to the impression that the city in which Mr. Mead lives is in terminal decline.

“...step over grassy seams...”

“...not unequal to walking in a graveyard...”

“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.”

“He stumbled over a particularly uneven section of pavement. The cement was vanishing under flowers and grass.”

Society will punish those who do not conform.

The norm in this society is to stay inside and watch television. It's abnormal to be outside in the evening taking a walk.  To be seen walking is disruptive to the neighborhood. Leonard makes a point of wearing sneakers, not hard-soled shoes that would alert dogs to his presence.  The fact that Leonard doesn't have a viewing screen in his home is unusual, possibly unique. This seems to count as a major strike against him by the automated police car. Leonard's walking is so abnormal that the police car is programmed to take him to a psychiatric facility. The story makes it obvious that just because society views something as abnormal doesn't make it wrong. 

“ 'Your name?' said the police car in a metallic whisper.”

“The light held him fixed, like a museum specimen, needle thrust through chest.”

Individualism and agency lead to a fulfilled life.

In The Pedestrian, we see the warning that an over-dependence on technology can result in us losing control of what it means to be an individual. Leonard Mead represents an individualistic ideal as he walks alone and ponders the many corpse-like bodies glued to their viewing screens' cool glow. Mead has not encountered another human on his night walks in over ten years, suggesting that he is alone in his walking habit and the only person who has some agency over what he does at night. By describing the people inside tomb-like houses as still and untouched by the light of what can be assumed are televisions, Bradbury effectively illustrates the importance of individualism as a way of living. 

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.