Although we may have more technological distractions, this is evidence of the fact we reside in a dystopian, not a utopian universe, as depicted by Bradbury. But it is our connection to nature, stripped of technology, which is essential to our individuality, not the programs we watch on television-or the appearance of our cellphones.īradbury’s dystopian story provides a warning that is clearly not being heeded. We are losing the ability to amuse ourselves in the outside world. Our cellphones, cars, and computers define our identities, rather than our bodies. In the modern world, we are increasingly categorized by our technological devices. Today, there are even more varied sedentary distractions, spanning from the Internet, to mobile phones, to video games. From Bradbury’s perspective in time, the dangers of television were the greatest risk posed to enjoying hands-on, real world activities. Although Bradbury does not specifically discuss the physical risks of inactivity, the nation’s climbing obesity rate is clear evidence of the fact that Americans are moving less and instead turning to sedentary pastimes to unwind. This takes people away from nature and a sense of being part of something larger than themselves. Today, people do still walk, but often on a moving conveyor belt at the gym, rather in a real environment. Leonard Mead, lives in a society where technology has replaced human interaction. In the story, The Pedestrian, the main character, Mr.
The world will have a generation of idiots. Riding in a car is seen as more normal, just like a robotic policeman is seen as more normal in the Bradbury story. Albert Einstein once said, I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The dystopian story revolves around the tale of a man named Leonard Mead, living during a time period not so far away from our own, in 2053 CE. In many communities, walking ‘behavior’ does appear to be unusual, because it looks so uncommon, despite the natural physiological aspect of walking. Ray Bradbury’s short story The Pedestrian is a dramatic illustration of the dangers of living in a world where contact with nature is deemed so abnormal that even walking alone at night is a crime. Today, human beings are less able to walk around suburban developments and to reach destinations such as the grocery store and their work by foot or by bicycle. But when society as a collective deems what is normal and healthy to be ‘abnormal,’ normalcy is seen as pathological.Bradbury’s story seems unusually prescient. Human beings are physically built to be mobile, not to sit watching television all of the time. What value is there in normalcy if this consigns the individual to a fate of watching television all day and night? In theory, nothing should be as normal and pleasurable as taking a walk. The story also questions the concept of normalcy and the value of being normal. The atmosphere of the story conjures up a sterile, 1950s suburb where everything is perfect, manicured, plastic, and vacant-even of human beings.However, the absence of real, lived experience-the aspects of life that make human existence meaningful and enjoyable-suggests the story’s dystopian nature. On the surface, this might seem to suggest that Bradbury’s story is utopian in nature, given the lack of crime and apparent peace enjoyed by the human community.