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Technology, Dehumanization In The Pedestrian, And The Murderer

473 Words2 Pages

Throughout Ray Bradbury's short stories, the idea that technology is dangerous for humanity is explored. Through the the three stories, 'The Pedestrian', 'There Will Come Soft Rains' (TWCSR), and 'The Murderer', the hazards and risks that technology poses to society are warned. Technology has shown the ability to take away one's humanlike sense. Technology has also shown how controlling it can be, and how it can force people to resort to deranged methods just to escape it. Firstly, in Bradbury's 'The Pedestrian', technology displays the ability to dehumanize those around it. The Pedestrian tells the story of a futuristic, dystopian world, run by technology. In this world, everyone conforms to the societal norms, except one character, Leonard Mead. Technology dehumanizes the conformists in this society, turning them into 'gray phantoms' that sit 'like the dead' inside 'tomblike houses'. Through these, it is demonstrated how much technology is killing the minds and souls of people. Not only this, but also how the citizens can be labelled and seen as dead or lifeless, due to the impact of technology. This enhances the idea that technology is dangerous as it dehumanizes. …show more content…

In 'There Will Come Soft Rains', technology is displayed to be extremely controlling over people's lives, therefore strengthening the idea of technology is dangerous. TWCSR is set in a post-apocalyptic world, after a detrimentally destructive atomic bomb. In this story, the house is shown to be in complete control, for example, it wakes up everyone via an alarm clock that sings 'tick-tock...time to get up.' It also protects the house, however due to it's extreme'self-protection', the house is filled with'mechanical paranoia'. Through this, it illustrates the house's repetitive and controlling behaviour, along with its determination to keep itself safe, by any means necessary, further describing the danger this technology poses towards

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