The Pedestrian, by Ray Bradbury, Barn Owl, by Gwen Harwood and Weapons Training, by Bruce Dawe, are texts which effectively covey various aspects of power. The Pedestrian is a short story set in 2053, and speaks of the power that technology has over society. Barn Owl, is a poem written about a child who commits a sin against an innocent owl, and Weapons Training is a poem set at the time of the Vietnam War, and is voiced by a drill sergeant speaking to his team. All three texts convey manipulation and powerlessness, two aspects which relate to either having an abundance of power, or lacking power. These notions are explored through the use of various literary techniques and dialogue. Texts, The Pedestrian, Barn Owl and Weapons Training all …show more content…
Power can be used to distinguish status and authority. In the text, Weapons Training, Dawe has used a structure that enables a continuous flow with no stopping. Dawe has purposely lacked punctuation to ensure that there are minimal stops, and therefore does not allow the subjective to put a word in, thus the subjective lacks all power as it is completely out of their control to say or do anything. There are no comas or full stops throughout the piece, but there is a common use of rhetorical questions, which too is a technique that doesn’t require a response, leaving the subjective with no power to speak. In the line, “and you know what you are? You're dead, dead, dead” the persona answers the question he poses which eliminates the opportunity for the subjective to reply. By restricting freedom of speech for the subjective, the power of the persona is accentuated. Similarly, statuses are explored through the notion of powerlessness in the poem Barn Owl. In the quote, “My first shot struck. He swayed, ruined” the use of consonance with the repeated ‘s’ sound creates a serious tone. Poet Harwood mentions the subjective was struck on the first shot, therefore not giving it a chance to save itself, thus taking its power away from it. The use verbs “swayed, ruined” creates a shift in tone and speed, to portray the subjective as helpless, in contrast to the persona who had earlier, in the second stanza, proudly observed and constructed her plan to win her “prize”. The powerlessness of the owl is able to highlight the power the persona has against it. Furthermore, powerlessness is again explored in The Pedestrian when Mr Mead is stopped by police simply for walking at night, rather than being at home watching television like the rest of society. Mr Mead is stripped of his freedom of movement when he gets questioned by the police for walking. The dialogue between
As their may be many differences between Ray Bradbury’s “The Pedestrian” and Alan Bollinger’s film, there are also many similarities that keep both on the same plot line. One of these Similarities is that both use symbolism. For instance in the movie and story they both pick up something from the ground. One being the dead leaf in the story, that represents society and how there's no hope for humanity. The other being a dandelion, which represents hope for humanity and how the seeds will grow. Another similarity is everyone's brainwashed and sidetracked by the
In the short story, “The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury, is an example of dystopian literature. First and foremost, a characteristic of dystopian literature is that citizens live in a dehumanized state. This is shown in the story when, “In the ten years of walking by night or day, for thousands of miles, he had never met another person walking, not once in all that time.” This quote supports the thesis in that people are not allowed to do the simplest task of walking without reason, or acting without reason. This is a dehumanized state of life, due to there being such a thing as cabin fever, and that it is one of the most common activities of humans. To add to this, “The tombs, ill-lit by television light, where the people sat like the dead,
what the nature of war and creating a sense of 'them' and 'us' this is
In “The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury, the author uses simple, but powerful similes as a gateway to the reader understanding the setting of the story. “The Pedestrian” is the tale of a lone wandering man walking down the street at twilight. The man is then accused of being a criminal and taken back to his home, also known as “The Psychiatric Center for Research on Regressive Tendencies.” The similes used in the story help readers fully understand and see the setting of “The Pedestrian”.
In the short story “The Pedestrian” Ray Bradbury tells a story of Mr. Leonard Mead who is alone and isolated in newly innovated world of A.D. 2053. In this futuristic society Mr. Mead is no longer needed as a writer, so he then walks over uneven sidewalks for ten years capturing vivid images of the society he currently lives in which is strongly impacted by technology. Throughout the text, Ray Bradbury uses literary devices such as imagery, foreshadowing, and symbolism to reveal how societies may be strongly influenced by the new advances of technology.
Ray Bradbury’s short story “The Pedestrian” is a dramatic illustration of the dangers of living in a world where contact with nature is deemed so abnormal that even walking alone at night is a crime. The dystopian story revolves around the tale of a man named Leonard Mead, living during a time period not so far away from our own, in 2053 CE. In the story, a robotic police car is so suspicious of Mead’s walking behavior during one pleasant night that he is taken away to a psychiatric hospital.
In the era of technological advancements, one can not help but fall into its trap. It is starting to replace our ability to question, reason and even think. The works of Ray Bradbury in his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 portrays the devastating effects of technology in the face of mankind. It follows the life of Guy Montag, a fireman whose job is to burn books instead of putting fires out. As he develops a love for books, he starts to question and notice their technology-dependent life. His worries take him to Faber, an English professor who explains him a great deal about the why the society is the way it is. Using juxtaposition and personification, the author demonstrates that technology restricts knowledge and creates ignorance in society.
Words are everywhere, words make up books, and the power of words make The Book Thief which will never be able to be improved upon. Words help us communicate with others, but mainly they have positive and negative sides to them. In the novel, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Death narrates the story while Liesel Meminger also tells her story of living in Nazi, Germany. We will discuss how there are many people such as Max Vandenburg and Liesel Meminger who choose to use to use their power of words in the positive way. We will also discuss how people also like to use their power of words in the negative way such as Adolf Hitler. The power of words are very effective especially in Markus Zusak’s writing, and we’ll discuss the main parts of the book which have been effected with the power of words.
Has mankind managed to progress in a positive way? In “The Pedestrian”, Ray Bradbury shared his opinion about the situation. Using characterization and imagery Bradbury shows that if the world advances to the point where people lose all humanity then the world might as well not exist, although his opinion may not be the opinion of all mankind it is logical and understood. Rays opinion about the future and forces the reader to consider the possible reality of it.
“All kinds of creative possibilities are made possible by science and technology which now constitute the slave of man, if man is not enslaved by it” as quoted by Jonas Salk during a speech about the technological advances in modern medicine in the 1950s. In the short stories by Ray Bradbury, he illustrates how the characters are struggling to live with the futuristic capabilities of technology. “The Pedestrian” focuses on a man named Leonard Mead who is the only person in society who does not use the technology in his home, his hobby is to walk. However, he is viewed as an outcast. “The Veldt” focuses on how George and Lydia Hadley figure out how their children’s nursery is powered by their mind and how they use it to have a tragic advantage over their parents in the end. While technology can let people connect to others much more efficiently, Ray Bradbury shows how the characters in his short stories “The Pedestrian” and “The Veldt” prove how technology is capable of isolating people from reality.
Having spent one’s entire childhood through war and bombings can inspire many ideas, both positive and negative. From the fear of a nuclear bomb to the proud feeling of witnessing the first American man on the moon, Ray Bradbury took his experiences during World War II and the International Space Race and transformed them into literary pieces, such as “There Will Come Soft Rains”, “The Sound of Thunder”, and “The Pedestrian”. In these short stories, Bradbury includes elements of his own life into the plot, creating a message of caution to the readers through his riveting genre of dystopia. Some topics he stresses include time, technology, and its possible threats to human interaction. Through Bradbury’s unique style, he encapsulates the major issue of the rapid development in society and how it affects people in a social aspect. As new technology and science is innovated, there are many people who debate whether or not it can have harmful side effects to mankind. Among these three short stories, Bradbury uses the stylistic techniques of diction, imagery, and figurative language to convey that as society progresses through time, people lose their sense of humanity.
Authors often apply literary devices in literature to convey special messages to the readers. Margaret Atwood portrays the use of literary devices in her poem, “Bored,” when she uses anecdote and metaphor. In the poem, Atwood effectively demonstrates how the use of literary devices creates a greater insight into the lack of power women have in a male-dominated society.
Among the most complex systems is a simple yet overwhelming desire for an establishment of power, if one(it?) does not already exist. Power can be greedy, selfish, aggressive, but also a necessity for order and peace. It is always controlling. It has existed since the beginning of time and will continue to play a vital role in the lives of all, forever. In literature, power can be depicted in a variety of ways, affecting different numbers of people and things. Margaret Atwood’s “Helen of Troy Does Countertop Dancing”, Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Lesson”, Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House”, and Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” each uniquely examine the influence of power in their characters’ lives. The roots from which power takes place, the depths
Personification in the 'monstrous anger of the guns', allows Owen to give the guns a powerful, negative connotation. By doing so, he evokes hatred towards the weapons in the reader. By personifying the 'monstrous' guns, Owen tries to suggest that we overlook the prospects of guns and as a result, people are not as afraid of them as they should be, causing the reader to feel frightened of war.
In the poem ‘Exposure’ one of the main ways that Owen shows the awful, extreme situation the soldiers are in is by using strong, powerful