LET ME WALK YOU THROUGH THE PEDESTRIAN

                                  Let Me Walk You Through The Pedestrian 

            The story " The Pedestrian" by Ray Bradbury was a story that was based on an experience that Bradbury had with the authorities. He went on a walk at night around his house as he did every night. This one particular time the police had spotted him. They then began questioning him. Bradbury was a bit confused on why he was getting questioned for walking around his house. The officer asked what he was up to, then asked for his name, profession, if he was married and then asked for his address. The police then told him to get in the car. Bradbury refused since he had done nothing wrong. As he was walking to get in the police car, he noticed that no one was in the car. It was a robotic police car. In the story it was the only one left in the city. As the police car drove away with Bradbury inside, he watched all the houses pass. There was one house with bright lights at every window. This was his house.

             Bradbury was released and went home to begin writing. He wrote this story to explain what had happened but also added a twist to it. While reading this story you can feel his frustration and confusion in his writing. You can tell he was upset. Why wouldn't he be? He was stopped, questioned, and arrested in front of his house for doing absolutely nothing. He did the only thing he was able to do and that was to write about his experience. In the story he was being punished for not being inside and watching his television. He was the only normal one left in the city and was being treated like that was a bad thing.

           The author wanted readers to see that authority figures can and do take advantage of their power. Usually on people who don't have a voice to speak up. I think that today there are a good amount of people who take advantage of the power they have. I remember seeing a lot of articles about police brutality. It upset me. These authority figures are supposed to protect and serve and that's not what they were doing. They are instead abusing their power and making citizens nervous when they spot them driving in the street.

            What made this story even more interesting was the fact that Mr. Mead was the only character in the story. He was the only person who talked throughout the whole story. The police car was a robotic car that had no people inside if it but still managed to arrest him. I thought it was an interesting way of writing the story. Not only did it make sense but it also furthered the story line and the meaning. When Bradbury wrote this story he didn’t have the technology we do today but he somehow predicted that technology was going to advance quickly. He also predicted that we humans would be addicted to this new type of technology. He was right. Most people today, including myself, can't go anywhere without their music, phones or some form of technology. 

          As a reader this story helped me think more about what happened in this story. I can see a resemblance to life today. If that’s not scary to think about then I don’t know what is. Mostly because of the technology thing and how right Bradbury was. People today are so distracted by their technology devices that they don’t realize what’s going on around them. It’s sad. They won’t realize the dangers until it’s too late. We become willing slaves that do whatever the technology we have wants us to do. If your phone is dying, you charge it. If your controller needs new batteries, you change them. If your phone needs an update, you update it. The list goes on.