![]() ![]() Auditory details further convey Mead’s impressions of nature: “He listened to the faint push of his soft shoes through autumn leaves with satisfaction, and whistled a cold quiet whistle between his teeth.” He also picks up one of the leaves and smells “its rusty smell.” This tangible sensory connection with nature creates a sense of “satisfaction” and contentment, which contrasts starkly with the people in the houses Mead passes on his walks, whose faces are touched by the light of their televisions sets but are “never really touching” what is conveyed on an emotional level. Walking outdoors, then, is not merely an absent-minded hobby for Mead-it is a reverent act, similar to that of worship, which invigorates and energizes him. In the empty streets Mead walks, “There was a good crystal frost in the air it cut the nose and made the lungs blaze like a Christmas tree inside.” The simile comparing Mead’s lungs to a Christmas tree gives his time in nature a spiritual connotation, associating the simple act of breathing cold air with a religious celebration. ![]() ![]() Tactile images bring the natural world to life for the reader. The story’s descriptions of nature use a variety of images to render it vivid, and even spiritual. Bradbury shows how even in a dystopian future city where technology is all-encompassing, communing with nature still offers imaginative reverie and spiritual solace. Despite the pervasive urbanization described in the story, the natural world endures. Mead, however, is a devout pedestrian: he walks thousands of miles outdoors for the sheer pleasure and beauty of the act, communing with nature and finding solace in it. Entranced by televisions indoors, all the other citizens lack the imagination and feeling to connect spiritually with the natural world. Similarly, Bradbury describes nature in a Romantic way with vivid sensory imagery. Nineteenth century Romantic writers portrayed the natural world as vibrant and spiritual, valuing nature as a place for introspection. ![]()
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