The Pedestrian By Ray Bradbury
... Bradbury describes the atmosphere in the city as empty and lonely when he uses the metaphor “Grassy seems” the broken pavement is being compared to a ripped seem. This suggests that no one walks there. This is ironic because a ripped seem would imply that something is being used or over used but in the story it implys that the pavements are not used. Bradbury cleverly uses this to illustrate the theme of rebellion versus control as Leonard Mead is rebelling against society and the rest of society is being controlled. The author emphasises the picture of the dead city by saying that Leonard Mead has never met any other person in ten years of walking at night. In addition to this he has to wears sneakers to hide the sound of his footsteps so that the neighbours are not alerted about his presence. The way the author talks about the length of time Mead has been engaging in this activity and the fact that he makes sure that he wears special shoes to preserve his anonymity builds up suspense. Furthermore the author demonstrates suspense in the story by the use of sound effect the onomatopoeia in the lines “the faint push of his soft shoes pushing through the autumn leaves “ helps to emphasise by use of the word “push”, how his stealthy footsteps sound. This allows the reader to experience the utter silence and desolation of the empty streets on this November night. This also allows the reader to imagine there’s an increase in suspense. Bradbury then introduces a note of menace with the sudden appearance of the ‘lone car’ which ‘flashed a white cone of light’. The author portrays suspense when he compares Mead to a Moth, stunned by the illumination then drawn towards it. This helps the reader to imagine Meads fear and helplessness and makes us aware of Bradbury successfully introducing tension and suspense. In addition the readers awareness of suspense is increased when the driverless police car is introduced. This is evident with the metal voice of the robot car. Its automatic staccato responses have a chilling effect. There is no person within the car. The fact that the one robot car is enough to ensure that an entire population stays in line also stimulates the reader’s awareness of tension. Before he goes Leonard Mead points out his house – the only one which is lit – but gets no response. The police car remains silence as at this point the reader wonders about the significance of this. The s...