The pedestrian is set in America in the year 2052. The plot of the story is about Leonard Mead out for a walk which would seem normal enough any other time but in this case it’s set in the future where everyone is confined to there home and walking is illegal.
The theme of the story is in my opinion about a person’s right to freedom and rebellion against the system. Leonard does what he wants to do regardless of the fact that it’s illegal or not. He enjoys walking and has been doing it for ages and would keep doing it if he had the chance but unfortunately he was caught and taken to be brainwashed to be like everyone else: content to sit and watch T.V. and never enjoy life.
Mr Leonard Mead was as I said a free spirit and a rebel of sorts he didn’t want to be programmed like everyone else into a specific routine and being kept off the streets. There are days where he would walk for hours “Sometimes he would walk for hours and return only at midnight”, He also felt a distain for all the programmed people and looked down on them “Hello, in there he whispered to every house on every side as he moved ‘What’s up to-night 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?” This quote shows that the idea of television was a joke to him and he seemed to enjoy making fun of the people watching T.V. This is shown again when the author says: “What is it now? He asked the houses, noticing his wrist watch. ‘Eight-thirty pm? Time for a dozen assorted murders? A quiz? A revue?” He was a writer by profession although writing is out dated and unnecessary as shown by when he was asked for his profession by the police car and he replied “I guess you’d call me a writer” to which the car replied “No profession” that in conjunction with the line “He hadn’t written in years. Magazines and books didn’t sell anymore.” Shows that books and magazines are a thing of the past and television is the only way of entertainment now. At the end of the story when he is arrested by the police he is taken to a mental institution, ‘the Psychiatric Centre for Research on Regressive Tendencies’ where it’s most likely he will be brainwashed into the same routine as everyone else thus crushing his free spirit and making him an automaton like everyone else.
