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

Asleep “I don’t try to predict the future; I try to prevent it.” Ray Bradbury is an author of many works, of which include The Pedestrian, There Will Come Soft Rains, A Sound of Thunder, and The Veldt. In these texts, there is a theme of a futuristic reality where destruction is to occur which might not be that far off from our own. This is purposeful, Bradbury claims to use his writing as a message to the masses calling them to open their eyes to the direction our world is hurdling towards. These texts deal with warnings of losing touch with the natural world and other humans, devaluing life, an increase in disastrous irresponsibility, and the most prominent being the abuse of technological advancements. It is no question that with the production

“The house stood alone in a city of rubble and ashes. This was the one house left standing. At night the ruined city gave off a radioactive glow which could be seen for miles . . . Here the silhouette in paint of a man mowing a lawn. Here, as in a photograph, a woman bent to pick flowers. Still farther over, their images burned on wood in one titanic instant, a small boy, hands flung into the air; higher up, the image of a thrown ball, and opposite him a girl, hands raised to catch a ball which never came down.” (There Will Come Soft Rains) In this reality, the technology had been used for destruction instead of progression. An entire civilization, years of evolution and progress, all thrown away because of the hate of men. “It fell to the floor, an exquisite thing, a small thing that could upset balances and knock down a line of small dominoes and then big dominoes and then gigantic dominoes, all down the years across Time. Eckels' mind whirled. It couldn't change things. Killing one butterfly couldn't be that important! Could it?” (A Sound of Thunder) This is similar to the previous quote in the fact that a world was lost. The people had not died in this story, but they were not there anymore. They were as good as dead.“You’ve let this room and this house replace you and your wife in your children’s feelings. This room is their mother and father, far more important in their lives than their real parents.”’ (The Veldt) In this sense, a family had died. Replaced by walls that bribed off their connections, the family was not in existence. They were simply people living in a house, no respect and no love. These scenarios could be stopped through the regulation of family interactions, including in school, religious practices, sports, etc. But if we continue on this cycle, we are likely to not only lose our family and friends, but ourselves as