This page was created by Alison Morgan.
Artist Statement: Chris Sievers
Born on August 22, 1920, Ray Bradbury started his career as a fantasy and science fiction writer in 1938 when he published his first piece of work in Forrest J. Ackerman’s magazine Imagination. From there, Bradbury’s career only improved until he eventually received distinguished awards such as the Pulitzer Prize and an Emmy. Some his most well-known works include titles such as Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, and Something Wicked This Way Comes. A common theme amongst his collected works is the prediction and examination of hypothetical dystopian futures for our society. Such predictions are usually extrapolated from an aspect of the society in which Bradbury lives.
Among Bradbury’s works of short fiction is “The Pedestrian,” published in 1951, which encapsulates many of the ideas presented in his later works. The story centers on a man, Mr. Leonard Mead, out for a late-night stroll in the year 2053. He habitually strolls the streets at night and as he is walking, he peers into people’s homes and murmurs thoughts to himself. At this point in the future, due to technological advancement and progress, the past time of going for a stroll has become something abnormal and regressive.
This night, he says “’hello, in there,’ he whispered to every house on every side as he moved. ‘What’s up tonight on Channel 4, Channel 7, Channel 9?’” The man continues walking like this until, unexpectedly, one of the few police cars left in town pulls up to arrest him. After some protest, the man reluctantly climbs into the police car and “moved down the empty river-bed streets and off away” to the Psychiatric Center for Research on Regressive Tendencies.(Bradbury, Ray).
”The Pedestrian” is one of Bradbury’s first works that highlights the idea that as technology advances within a society, people tend to become more insulated from each other and the outside world. It is evident that such an insular society would find it difficult to maintain the same social and environmental values as one that required its citizens to interact with each other and their environment.
