Not much is told about the government present in the dystopia of “The Pedestrian.” It has eerie parallels to another of Bradbury’s novels “Fahrenheit 451” where similarly the population was engaged in their ‘talking walls’ of television media, while anyone who chose to read or behave uniquely, was brutally arrested. The story tells the consequences of a society dependent on technology, and how technology will become the central factor of control over human society. It is conformity at unprecedented levels in some societies – and deviation from it, such as limiting smartphone or social media use is oftentimes viewed as strange, even resulting in social disconnection.

Most people watch a concert or fireworks through the recording camera of the smartphone to share later on social media, while the newest generation of kids prefers virtual realities rather than playing outside. Smartphones are prevalent everywhere, in every social occasion or venturing. “The Pedestrian” was written in 1951, when televisions just began to appear in homes on a massive scale, but fast forwarding 2-3 generations later, and the resemblance, at least in ideology, is uncanny. It dehumanizes the very human elements in people by creating an illusion of the emotions and experiences via television. The dystopian element to this story is not that individuals enjoy watching television, it is the fact that it has become a uniform activity (potentially used for control) which supresses thought, belief, and observation. Bradbury creates a juxtaposition that the next generations will continue to become engrossed in their personal technology, ceasing to pay attention to the world around them. Ray Bradbury’s “The Pedestrian” creates a dystopian and inherently antisocial society in which mass media via television envelops everyone in society.

Ray bradbury the pedestrian