The Pedestrian By Ray Bradbury: The Use Of Similes And Imagery To Show Technology As The Biggest Threat For Future Society

The existence of technology has become essential to many lives. As this sector continues to thrive, aiming to provide more benefits and leisure to those in its surrounding, it is also causing harm to many who are influenced by these products and unable to live without them. Three million was the population of a secluded city in the year 2053, yet amongst them, only one house shined bright into the night sky and only one individual was not in possession of a television. “The Pedestrian”, written by Ray Bradbury, is a story that explored a futuristic world in which society is dominated by technology. By analyzing the use of similes and imageries throughout this text, it is revealed that the excessive use of technology is the biggest threat for future society, harming humans’ individuality and social bonds. For this purpose, men and women must become aware of the drawbacks fostered by technology before entrusting all faith in machinery.

Firstly, the use of similes in this story implicates the demerit outcomes of society’s over-reliance towards mechanics, thus fostering a sense of conformity in the community. To commence, citizens living in this futuristic city are seen in the story to be subconsciously obeying a strict routine as if they are mechanically programmed to perform the same tasks every day. For instance, the author expressed in the text that as night arises, “highways were like streams in a dry season, all stone and bed and moon radiance”. To elaborate, by ten o’clock every evening, as all inhabitants return home, streets are emptied and the moon light up the pavement along endless lonely avenues. In fact, momentarily from returning, all residents become engrossed by the entertainment provided on the television, thereby unmotivated to execute other distinctive activities at night. T

o continue, the constant cycle leads individuals to fear to rebel against their afore developed habits, hence surrendering their abilities to make their own decisions as they feel restricted by the systematic pattern. Furthermore, later on in the tale, the livings are described to be dehumanized by technology, their homes being compared to tombs as “the people sat like the dead, the gray or multicolored lights touching their faces but never really touching them”. The comparison is made owing to the fact of how lifeless the townspeople appear to be when settled in front of their televisions at night. Likewise, the town almost seems to be inhabited with the absence of all actions apart from watching television as the population imprisons themselves in their houses after sundown. In other words, human behaviors are being limited and neglected in order to progress alongside the advancement of technology, resulting once again in the deprivation of choice. In brief, the development of technology pressured specific standards and rules upon the souls of this city, causing individuals to be enslaved to technology. For this reason, while depending on this technical platform, mankind risks losing all individuality.

Secondly, the use of imagery in this narrative reinforces the authority technology possess on this particular society, resulting in a lack of social interactions. To begin, “gray phantoms and their whisperings and murmurs” is an expression used by the author to illustrate the population of this city. The quote refers to the living as phantoms, meaning they seem dead and it further demonstrates the restraint of speech on the ones in this town, as voices are constantly hidden and used to a minimum. To simplify, the lack of communication in this municipal is making the society gradually more disconnected to reality, as they cannot fulfill the most basic human activity, to interact face to face. As the reliance on mechanisms grows, any form of building social bonds is decreasing. Additionally, in reason to the lack of sounds and movements every night, the text also depicts the city to resemble “the center of a plain, a wintry, windless Arizona desert with no house in a thousand miles, and only dry river beds, the streets, for company”. In the present, many set out for strolls after dinner, however in time to come, with people reluctant to take a glance away from their televisions, individuals are distanced from encountering all forms of physical and social interactions. Consequently, by isolating themselves, these souls are gradually gaining more and more similarities to the addictive machinery, sharing the same disabilities communicating in real life and wholeheartedly towards others. In addition, the influence technology has bestowed in this futuristic world results in numerous identities unable to develop themselves and multiple ambitions being cast aside all because of the lack of motivation in which it is triggered by the immoderate time spent on watching television.

In sum, technology often manifests solitude which fosters an inability and discouragement for humankind to form social bonds with others in their surroundings. As result, the insufficiency of social interactions encouraged by the progression of technology causes the incompetence in humans to acquire new abilities and knowledge.

To conclude, the possible addiction to technology in the future is leading society to fear to risk their freedom of choice and their potential of learning. As shown through the similes, the evolution of mechanics enforces routines on individuals, thus promoting individuals’ characters and mindset to be indistinguishable from one another. To continue, the use of imageries unveils that the growth of technology alienates the capacity of human beings to socialize with different people, leading obstacles to become more intelligent. All in all, though technology simplifies our lives, the uprising trust towards it is forcing many to become regressive. As the dependence in technology continues to rise, the chances of evaluating the same dystopian world in the story will increase in the future.