Short Essay
"The future is not something we enter. The future is something we create."—Leonard I. Sweet
Humans have always been driven by both a fear of the unknown and a curiosity to know. They have forecasted, predicted, and tried to control the future. Most of our actions in the present are done thinking of the consequences that they would have in our future.
Since we are children we are taught to think about the future as something someone else will create. As well as the laws that we are also taught to follow, but just a few of us are actually told that we are able to change them or create them, being a part of this very small group of people which dare themselves to think outside the box that society has created for us.
Everything prior mentioned is what we are able to see in “The Pedestrian” when Leonard is taken to the psychiatric hospital for regressive tendencies just because his lifestyle is not as modern or exactly the same as the current society.
Definitely, societies are evolving side by side with technology, and of course it is going to be something essential for us to continue developing in the various domains of science and even life itself; however,all extremes are wrong and this won’t be the exception, leading us to a place where we would forget our ancestors, the beauty of nature, our roots which are the things that really define us as humans, and that keep the balance of life.
By Isabella, Dina, and Natalia, Step 11
What happens in the story?
The principal character, Leonard Mead, goes on a walk as usual, but when he is returning to his home, he encounters a policeman that asks him many questions relating to his work, possession, and life in general, with his answers the policeman decides to take him to a psychiatric hospital for regressive tendencies because he considers that he is old school and that that is a psychotic disorder in the year 2053.
Who is the main character? What do we know about him?
Leonard Mead is an adult man living in an unidentified city in the twenty-first century. He is unusual among people that lives there, he lives alone, doesn't even own a television, and his occupation as a writer is obsolete because no one reads any longer. In addition, he appreciates nature, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells, that's why walking the streets late at night is one of his favorite pastimes.
Why does he go on a walk? What does it suggest about him?
He goes on a walk because he likes to observe, enjoys time alone, and takes in the air without anyone bothering. This suggests that he isn’t focused on technology but remains loving what was once important for other people, real quality time.
Why is he arrested and sent to the Psychiatric Centre for Research on Regressive Tendencies? What is meant by ‘regressive tendencies’?
He is sent there since he lives now in a society where everything is ruled by technology and he is a man who isn’t an advocate of that, but obviously being against it and not behaving like the rest of citizens makes him a stranger, in this case a mental ill person with regressive tendencies, meaning that he doesn’t enjoy watching tv or using the internet, but being present in the moment going for walks and taking air in.
What is the atmosphere like at the start of the story? Use evidence from the text to back up your answer
The atmosphere described in the story is very quiet and calm, almost bleak. Leonard was alone in the city or at least that's what he thought .
Some evidence we could find on the text:
To enter into that silence that was the city at 8 o’clock on a misty evening in november.
Make your way through the silence.
Sudden grey phantoms seemed to manifest upon inner rooms.
Describe the setting that is introduced to us in the first paragraph.
What do you think the purpose of the text is?
We think the purpose of this text is to show the reader how technology, if we let it, will slowly dehumanize us and practically take us to a place where human interactions between each other and nature are rare.
Describe the society in which Leonard Mead lives. Use evidence from the text to support your answer.
Leonard Mead lives in a reclusive society, where the people are fully absorbed by technology and spend their nights confined watching tv. Also they are very closed minded because despite the fact that Leonard is portrayed as a nature-loving, active man, he is an outcast.
Explain the possible reasons that Leonard Mead does not fit into this society.
He lives in a very closed-minded, reclusive, lazy society, that prefers to stay indoors and watch television, they never walk, and clearly he doesn’t fit in, he enjoys the pleasures of going outside, he loves nature, and detailing the world even if it is as dark and lonely, he enjoys the silence, and clearly despises everything related to television.
Why does he keep all of his lights on?
To keep himself warm in the cold weather, to read, and also, due to the fact that he was alone and the only lights that you could see were the ones in his house, he wanted to be at least a bit illuminated.
Bradbury uses repetition of words and images to establish the tone or mood of the story. What is the tone? What specific words or images does Bradbury repeat to help establish the tone of the story? Identify at least three words or images.
The tone of the story is related to isolation, detachment of the real life, and loneliness. He uses words and images such as gray, silence, shadows, phantoms, misty to establish the tone of the story since they all lead the reader to a lonely scenario.
12) Write down the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and
resolution of the story. Use one quotation for each point to back up your answers.
Exposition: Leonard Mead walks down deserted and overgrown streets at night, wearing shoes to avoid being overheard.
Rising action: He goes for a night walk and finds that he is the only person on the streets. He notices other people watching television in their homes.
Climax: A car turned a corner suddenly as he headed back to his home. Leonard stops stunned, his name, company, and profession are all asked about. When he says he's a novelist, the car responds, "No profession," because almost no one reads these days. He is interrogated further and informed that he is being held under arrest.
Falling Action: One house is well-lit as the car rolls through the dark streets, "each window a loud yellow illumination." "That's my home," Leonard says to the automated vehicle, but he gets no answer.
Resolution: Throughout the rest of the cold night, the car travels quiet through the streets with "no sound and no motion." Leonard Mead, is gone
By Natalia Rojas, Dina Reyes,
and Isabella Duarte, Step 11
