Ray Bradbury's The Pedestrian, A Sound Of Thunder, And

“I don’t try to describe the future, I try to prevent it.” (Bradbury) Bradbury’s depictions of the future, written in the 1950’s, explain his motives for writing in a science fiction style with a heavier emphasis on fiction than science. Ray Bradbury influences people in a way that cannot be mimicked. He used fictional stories to deliver an important message that can be applied throughout time. The message is how our actions affect our future today.

In the story, “The Pedestrian” written by Ray Bradbury, “One of the world's best-known and best-loved science fiction writer”. Has depicted the future in the story, “The Pedestrian” to be puzzling as it’s a combination of many thoughts depending on what perspective you are looking at. Some parts of the story depending on who you are might be great while others may not be as great in your opinion. The gist that I believe Bradbury is trying to say is that the future is very dark, direful, barren, unfriendly and most importantly soulless. The reason why I think this is because throughout the story he described everything dark and sadly.

Ray Bradbury (August 22, 1920 – June 5, 2012) was an American fantasy, science fiction, horror and mystery fiction author. In his works Bradbury brought up various problems, concerning scientific progress as well as personal interaction in modern society. One of these problems is relationship between children and adults. In a short story “The Rocket” the writer depicts trusting and caring relationship between Fiorello Bodoni, a poor junkyard owner, who spends his nights admiring nearby rocket launches bound for the Moon, Venus and Mars, and his family.

Wouldn’t it be impressive to have a big writing gig at the age of 14? Ray Bradbury, a self-taught author, first job was writing for a radio show at the age of 14. As time went on, he wrote many short stories, novels, screenplays, and television scripts. Bradbury has wrote more than 600 short stories and 30 books. Throughout all his works, they share many concepts, but are also very different.

Ray Bradbury, the author of the short story, “A Sound of Thunder”, relies heavily on word choice to convey a mood of suspense. Countless times in this story, a series of events have occurred to portray that mood. One being, Travis is illustrating to Eckels the importance of not disturbing the past, considering it may “Add up infinitesimally” and nevertheless “Multiply out in sixty million years” (Bradbury 686). By utilizing the word infinitesimally, it gives off a sense of being unnecessary, however, by later using the word multiply, it redistributes the relevancy. This generated a mood of seriousness and alertness to not disturb the ancient world, and to avoid producing a societal consequence.

Ray Bradbury was an American science fiction, horror and fantasy author whose work was based on the “fantastical and unreal.” He made the decision to become a writer at a young age in the hope to “live forever” through his fiction. He is known as one of America’s greatest creative geniuses. Master of science fiction, he created a world of new technical and intellectual ideas and used his imagination as a tool of better understanding. Bradbury’s writings and works are both entertaining and inspirational, and he deserves to be recognized.

“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity”- Albert Einstein (BrainyQuote.com). Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and The Martian Chronicles, makes this particularly apparent in his short science fiction story, “The Veldt.” “Through the remainder of the century, Bradbury continued to write novels and short stories but also branched out to many other formats and media. He has written play scripts, screenplays, teleplays, and poetry” (Milne). “The Veldt” was yet another example of his diversity.

The Pedestrian Thesis: In a short story titled “The Pedestrian”, written by Ray Bradbury, Bradbury uses the setting to display a lonely, sad mood and person vs society conflict as he battles the lonely streets. Bradbury shows the lonely mood by having the character walk alone in the empty streets. Bradbury wasted no time describing the streets as silent and misty making for a very lonely mood. Mead, the main character, walks along the streets alone with no sign of life, saying “he would see cottages and homes with their dark windows, and it was not unequal to walking through a graveyard where the faintest light is a flicker of a firefly” Bradbury’s quote shows how empty and lonely the streets are by referring to them as a

“The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury is based around a man named Leonard Mead, who views the world differently than the rest of his community. Bradbury expresses Leonard's non-conformity by providing a juxtaposition between Leonard and the rest of his community. Leonard’s community is composed of monotonous individuals who own dimly lit houses with viewing screens which they are always watching during night hours. Towards the end of the story, Bradbury describes a police car with the now captive Leonard passing several alike houses before advancing to a brightly lit house, Leonard’s. Leonard’s house is symbolism for his idiomatic lifestyle because while his community watches TV, he walks the sidewalk with no others outside during night hours.

Life is not solely about being in the moment, it is about accepting your past, moving on and looking towards the future when the world is turning the wrong way for your life. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, represents moving on away from the past without entirely blocking it out, but instead living it up. What are the consequences of dwelling in the past? Is it a difficultly reaching the future? Or is it merely just being held back from living your life to the fullest?