Wednesday, November 18, 2015

How did the world in "The Pedestrian" come to be? What will happen to Leonard?

Bradbury does not give a specific reason or series of events that explains how and why the world came to be the way that it is in the story.  Bradbury simply created a world in which people are glued to their electronic devices inside their homes.  Because the people do that so much, there is no need for much of a police force.  Nobody goes outside anymore.  There is nothing to police.


 I don't feel that Bradbury's world is that strange of a prediction.  I teach a high school media studies course, and for ten years I have been tracking data on the growing rates of media consumption.  I've posted the link to an October 2015 study.  It divides media usage up by category and shows that Americans watch more than four hours of TV per day.  That's actually down from previous years, but computer and phone uses are up, and the total consumption is up.  In a typical day, an American uses and consumes twelve hours of media.  That's more time than people spend sleeping or at their normal eight hour per day job.  And usage keeps climbing for digital media every year.  It also has consistently declined for print media.  The world in "The Pedestrian" is a believable world, because current trends reflect the story's world.  


As for what happens to the main character, the police officer says that he will be taken to a psychiatric facility.  



The car hesitated, or rather gave a faint whirring click, as if information, somewhere, was dropping card by punch-slotted card under electric eyes. "To the Psychiatric Center for Research on Regressive Tendencies."



Likely, Leonard will be asked a battery of questions about his "odd" habits.  The employees will probably think him crazy and admit him as a full time resident.  While there, Leonard will probably have nothing to do except watch whatever TV screen happens to be on in whatever room he is placed.  

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