Author & Context
This American writer was born in 1920 and is best known for Fahrenheit 451.
Who is Ray Bradbury?
The story is set in this year.
What is 2053?
This character is the protagonist.
Who is Leonard Mead?
This technique is used when conjunctions like "and/or" are deliberately left out.
What is asyndeton?
This is the term for a society that is imagined to be unpleasant or oppressive, like in “The Pedestrian.”
What is dystopia?
Bradbury primarily wrote in this genre, often exploring the dangers of technology.
What is speculative fiction?
Leonard Mead is stopped by this for walking at night.
What is a police car?
Leonard Mead is considered this type of character because he lives differently from society.
What is an outsider or loner?
Bradbury compares the police spotlight to this insect to describe how Mead feels.
What is a moth?
One of the social trends Bradbury criticises is society’s dependency on this.
What is technology or television?
Bradbury anticipated society’s overreliance on this household device in “The Pedestrian.”
What is television?
This is the term for the final event where Leonard is taken away.
What is the resolution?
This character or force is the antagonist in the story.
What is the police (car)?
The phrase "tomb-like houses" is an example of this technique, suggesting death and lifelessness.
What is metaphor?
Leonard Mead’s nightly walks represent this idea or activity being lost in society.
What is individuality or free thought?
By 1995, this percentage of American homes had a TV.
What is 99%?
Leonard Mead hasn’t seen this in ten years of nightly walks.
What is another person walking?
Leonard’s profession, considered obsolete by the authorities.
What is a writer?
Bradbury uses this type of imagery to describe the empty city and houses.
What is ghostly or auditory and visual imagery?
The fact that only one police car is needed is an example of this literary device, used to mock or critique society.
What is satire?
Bradbury adapted more than 60 of his short stories for this medium.
What is television?
The city is described using these two metaphors: one for the homes and one for the roads.
What are tombs and dry riverbeds?
The two types of conflict in the story.
What are internal conflict (Mead vs. his world) and external conflict (Mead vs. the police)?
The truncated dialogue between Mead and the police car highlights this theme.
What is censorship or lack of individuality?
Bradbury is ultimately warning against the loss of this, which he valued deeply as a writer.
What is imagination, literature, or human connection?