The Pedestrian –
- Describe the atmosphere in the city. Why is a ‘writer” referred to as “no profession”?
- Why is the writer criticised for “just walking”?
- Why does Leonard get in the car? Why does the voice force him to get in?
- Where is he going and why?
- What is strange about Leonard’s house?
- Drawing upon the author’s word choices and similes, describe what you think the world will look like in 100 years.
“The Pedestrian” is a science fiction short story by American writer Ray Bradbury. This story was originally published in the August 7, 1951 issue of The Reporter by The Fortnightly Publishing Company. It is included in the collection The Golden Apples of the Sun (1953), but was dropped from later editions of this collection (1990 and 1997).
The story features Leonard Mead, a citizen of a television-centered world in November 2053.] In the city the sidewalks have fallen into decay. Mead enjoys walking through the city at night – totally alone. During the past 10 years he has never met another person on his walks. On one of his usual walks, he encounters a police car, which is robotic. It is the only police unit in a city of three million as 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, which the car interprets as “no profession” since no one buys books or magazines in the television-dominated society. The police car, which is revealed to have no occupants, cannot understand why Mead would be out walking for no reason, and so it decides to take him to the Psychiatric Center for Research on Regressive Tendencies. As the car passes through his neighbourhood, Mead, locked in the confines of the back seat says, “That’s my house,” as he points to a warm and bright house with all its lights on, unlike all the other houses. There is no reply, and the story concludes.
The 60th anniversary of Fahrenheit 451 contains the short piece “The Story of Fahrenheit 451” by Jonathan R. Eller. In it, Eller writes that Bradbury’s inspiration for the story came when he was walking down Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles with a friend in late 1949. On their walk, a police cruiser pulled up and asked what they were doing. Bradbury answered, “Well, we’re putting one foot in front of the other.” The policemen did not appreciate Ray’s joke and became suspicious of Bradbury and his friend for walking in an area where there were no pedestrians. Inspired by this experience, he wrote “The Pedestrian”, which he sent to his New York agent Don Congdon in March 1950. According to Eller, “[the story’s] composition in the early months of 1950 predates Bradbury’s conception of ‘The Fireman,'” the short novella that would later evolve into Fahrenheit 451. In Fahrenheit 451, Leonard’s character can be considered similar to that of Clarisse McClellan’s uncle, who tells of a similar story repeated by her niece to Montag.
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