Read the following extract from Ray Bradbury's short story, 'The Pedestrian', and answer the questions that follow: 'Sometimes he (Mead) would walk for hours and miles and return only at midnight to his house. And on his way he would see the cottages and homes with their dark windows, and it was not unequal to walking through a graveyard where only the faintest glimmers of firefly light appeared in flickers behind the windows.'
Which three responses from Mead are viewed with suspicion by the police car?
Topic: The interrogation
Answer
(1) When asked his profession, he replied that he was a writer — and when the car did not understand, he admitted he had not written in years, so the machine recorded him as having no profession. (2) When asked what he was doing out, he answered that he was simply walking, and walking for air and to see — an activity the car found inexplicable. (3) When asked whether he had a viewing screen at home, he said no; and he further admitted he was not married, so that there was no one to confirm his account. Each answer marked him as abnormal.
Three responses, one mark each — list them separately. The insight to add is that none of these is a crime; they are simply deviations from the norm, and in Bradbury’s world deviation itself is the offence. The car’s diagnosis, "regressive tendencies", tells you the society treats individuality as illness.