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.'
Mention two dangers that the author is warning us against, through this story. Suggest an alternative title for the story. Give one reason for your choice.
Topic: Theme and title
Answer
Two dangers: (1) the danger of technology, and the viewing screen in particular, replacing human life — people sitting numbed before their televisions night after night, no longer walking, talking or thinking; and (2) the danger of a society so intolerant of difference that it treats individuality as madness — a state that polices harmless behaviour and removes anyone who will not conform.
An alternative title: "The Last Walker" (or "A City of the Dead"). Reason: it captures the essential situation of the story — Mead is the one remaining human being in the city who still walks, thinks and lives, and his removal is the extinguishing of the last individual.
4 marks split 2 + 2. Both dangers must be distinct — technology and conformity — since giving two versions of the same point earns one mark. For the title, any sensible suggestion is accepted, but the reason carries the credit, so tie it to a theme rather than to an incident. Never leave the reason out; it is the part being marked.