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Characters
Mead, the only named character in the story, is an adult male living in an unnamed city in the middle of the 21st century. He is unique among city dwellers; he lives alone, doesn’t own a television, and his profession as a writer is outdated, since no one reads anymore. Moreover, his favorite activity is to walk the streets alone at night. For ten years on these nightly walks, Mead has passed the homes of the other citizens and never met another person. Despite being a loner, Mead seems contented in his isolation, and he enjoys his solitude. He appreciates nature, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells on his walks. His enjoyment of nature and his imaginative reveries show that Mead has cultivated a Romantic sensibility, allowing him to maintain his individuality in the face of pervasive social conformity. Mead’s contented solitude is interrupted, however, when he encounters the city’s only police car, which interrogates him and reveals his lack of conformity to social norms. At the story’s conclusion, the car takes Mead away to a psychiatric institution to be studied for his “regressive tendencies.” Since Mead is the viewpoint character of the story’s narration, the reader gains access to his thoughts and feelings, increasing sympathy for him and highlighting through his perspective the deadness and repression of the city he lives in. As an unrepentant individualist, Mead strongly contrasts with the ghost-like other citizens and the mechanical, robotic police car, and his characterization demonstrates the rewards as well as risks of social nonconformity.
Leonard Mead Quotes in The Pedestrian
The The Pedestrian quotes below are all either spoken by Leonard Mead or refer to Leonard Mead. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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The Pedestrian Quotes
To enter out into that silence that was the city at eight o'clock of a misty evening in November, to put your feet upon that buckling concrete walk, to step over grassy seams and make your way, hands in pockets, through the silences, that was what Mr. Leonard Mead most dearly loved to do.
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[O]n 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. Sudden gray phantoms seemed to manifest upon inner room walls… or there were whisperings and murmurs where a window in a tomb-like building was still open.
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If he closed his eyes and stood very still, frozen, he could imagine himself upon the center of a plain, a wintry, windless Arizona desert with no house in a thousand miles, and only dry river beds, the streets, for company.
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“What's up tonight on Channel 4, Channel 7, Channel 9? Where are the cowboys rushing, and do I see the United States Cavalry over the next hill to the rescue?...What is it now?” he asked the houses… “Eight-thirty P.M.? Time for a dozen assorted murders? A quiz? A revue? A comedian falling off the stage?”
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“What are you doing out?”
“Walking,” said Leonard Mead. “Walking!”
“Just walking,” he said simply, but his face felt cold.
“Walking, just walking, walking?” “Yes, sir.”
“Walking where? For what?”
“Walking for air. Walking to see.”
“Your address!”
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“Where are you taking me?”
The car hesitated, or rather gave a faint whirring click, as if information, somewhere, was dropping card by punch-slotted card under electric eyes. “To the Psychiatric Center for Research on Regressive Tendencies.”
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Leonard Mead Character Timeline in The Pedestrian
The timeline below shows where the character Leonard Mead appears in The Pedestrian. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Pedestrian
What Leonard Mead loves most in the world is taking solitary evening walks through the city. At intersections,...
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When he walks, Leonard Mead’s footsteps make no sound because, a long time ago, he “wisely” began wearing sneakers. Were...
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On this night, Mead walks to the west toward a “hidden sea” through frosty air that “cut the nose”...
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Mead addresses the other citizens inside their homes, whispering to himself: “What’s up tonight on Channel...
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Mead wonders if he hears laughter from one of the houses, but hearing nothing more, he...
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As he turns toward his home, Mead suddenly encounters a lone car that flashes a “fierce white cone of light” on him,...
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The voice from the car begins to address Mead in a “metallic whisper.” It inquires about his name and profession. Mead replies that he...
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The car asks Mead what he is doing outside, and Mead replies that he is “Just walking.” The car...
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Next, the car interrogates Mead about his home life, asking about his address, ownership of an air conditioner and television,...
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Upon Mead telling the car that he has walked alone each night for many years, the car’s...
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Mead asks where he being taken, and after a hesitation and “faint whirring click” that sounds...
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Mead gets in the car, and it drives past the dark houses until passing Mead’s house,...
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