Show:
Setting
Mood
Society
Plot
Characterization
100
What is setting?
The physical place, time, and social context of the story.
100
What is mood?
Mood is the feeling that a text conveys to the reader.
100
What are all the other characters doing in their houses while Leonard is on a walk?
Watching TV
100
What is Leonard Mead doing in opening of the text?
Taking a walk.
100
What is the main character's name?
Mr. Leonard Mead
200
What year is "The Pedestrian" set in?
2053
200
What is the general mood of this text?
Dark, brooding, desolate, lonely, isolated, etc.
200
Why does Leonard have to change to sneakers when he is walking at night?
If he is not quiet dog will bark and alert other citizens that he is outside.
200
What happens when Leonard is within a block of his home? DAILY DOUBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He gets stopped by the police?
200
How are Leonard's hobbies different from the hobbies of the other citizens?
He likes to walk alone outside while other people are all inside watching television.
300
Why are the sidewalks being slowly taken over with grass and constantly described as cracked? How is that important to the story?
No one is walking on the sidewalks anymore. Since no one is using them, they don't repair them. This shows that Mead's nightly walks are unique in this society because he does enjoy walking and that the other people in this society have become obsessed with staying inside and watching television.
300
Name three descriptions of setting that create a mood of emptiness/desolation?
gray phantoms, graveyard, skeletal pattern of leaf he picks up, gloomy houses etc
300
What are some details that we learn about police enforcement in this town?
There is only one police car in the whole town because crime has been decreasing.
300
For Leonard, what is unusual about having a lone car approach him on his evening walk.
In this society no one drives at night. In fact, no one goes out at night expect for him. "He has never encountered another soul" on his nightly walks.
300
What is the simile used to describe the way Mead is drawn to the beams of the police car?
"like a moth"
400
Why does Bradbury use the image of the beetle to describe the rush hour traffic? What contrast does the daytime traffic have to the empty streets Leonard is walking? "He came to a cloverleaf intersection which stood silent where two main highways crossed the town. During the day it was a thunderous surge of cars, the gas stations open, a great insect rustling and a ceaseless jockeying for position as the scarab-beetles, a faint incense puttering from their exhausts, skimmed homeward to the far directions. But now these highways, too, were like streams in a dry season, all stone and bed and moon radiance."
He uses the image to convey a sense of endless purposeless movement of the masses of people in the text who are quickly going home to watch tv. This resembles the way insects wander quickly and aimlessly around each other.
400
How does the mood in the story effect what you think is going to happen next in the text?
The mood is dark and forbearing. This makes it seem like something bad is going to happen to the protagonist.
400
Based off of the setting and mood, what type of society is Leonard living in and how do you know this? Give at least 1 text evidence to support your claim.
He is living in a society that values technology (aka tv) over spending time outside or spending quality time together. We know this because the author tell us that: '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? Where are the cowboys rushing, and do I see the United States Cavalry over the next hill to the rescue?' But now these highways, too, were like streams in a dry season, all stone and bed and moon radiance. deciding which way to go, but it really made no difference; he was alone in this world of 2053 A.D
400
Using context clues, predict why Leonard has been stopped by the police car when he was just taking a walk?
Maybe he's done something we don't know about yet. Perhaps the police are looking for someone and they think he is who they are looking for (he is the only one out of place). Perhaps he is out of place when his neighbors are inside. This makes him seems suspicious to the police.
400
How is Mead different from the society that he lives in? Give two pieces of direct evidence that show this difference.
"To enter out into that silence that was the city at eight o'clock of a misty evening in November, to put your feet upon that buckling concrete walk, to step over grassy seams and make your way, hands in pockets, through the silences, that was what Mr. Leonard Mead most dearly loved to do." The silence of the streets show that Leonard Mead is walking alone at night. He wouldn't do this if he didn't enjoy it since no one else in the society walks during this time. '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? Where are the cowboys rushing, and do I see the United States Cavalry over the next hill to the rescue?' Mead doesn't seem to enjoy tv. Unlike everyone else who wants to be entertained by technology he would rather have some time to himself.