Tuesday, March 5, 2013

How is Mr. Mead's house different from the other houses in the city in "The Pedestrian"?

I would say Mr. Mead's house is different from all the other houses in the city in two specific ways.  


The first way that Mr. Mead's house is different is that it is brightly lit. All the lights are on. At the very end of the story, Mr. Mead is arrested and driven past his house. We are told all the houses were dark except one, which has all its lights on. Mr. Mead tells the police car that the house is his.  



They passed one house on one street a moment later, one house in an entire city of houses that were dark, but this one particular house had all of its electric lights brightly lit, every window a loud yellow illumination, square and warm in the cool darkness.



The other way Mr. Mead's house is different is that it does not have a television, or "viewing screen," inside. All the other houses have that particular entertainment device, and that is why all the homes are darkened. People are watching television in the dark. Mr. Mead doesn't have a TV. He prefers to walk around the neighborhood by himself. That activity is considered so odd that the police arrest him and plan to take Mr. Mead to the Psychiatric Center for Research on Regressive Tendencies.

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