Madsen 1

Aaron Madsen
Introduction to Writing
Professor Abbe
28 October 2015
Bradbury Vs. Collins: Style
Billy Collins Rain is a symbolistic poem that allows Collins to speak about the dangers
of censorship. Bradburys The Pedestrian is a short story that points out the harm of the
advancements of technology. Collins style allows him to make vague examples of what will
happen if censorship continues, while Bradbury is able to use straight forward examples of a
futuristic world that has been overrun with technology. Collins and Bradbury are both writing
about the same concerns in two drastically different time periods as Rain was written in 2011
and The Pedestrian was first published in 1951. The same concerns for the future of society
related to censorship and technology were continually raised over this 60 year time frame and are
still relevant concerns today. Although both authors are concerned with the subject of
squandering the art of writing and what the future holds, their individual styles allow them to get
their message across in different ways.
Each piece offers the same concerns for the future of not only writing, but of the country
as a whole. Both authors speak about if the citizens allow themselves to be censored and allow
themselves to be consumed by the technological advances, about if the citizens allow themselves
to be censored and allow themselves to be consumed by the technological advances, the human
race as a whole will lose not only creative freedom, but the freedom to make choices.

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Collinss choice to write his piece in the form of a poem allows him to do a few things
that Bradbury cannot do through the use of a short story. His use of the poem gives him the
ability to say things in a way that Bradbury is not able to get across in his story. It gives him a
way to make the issue he is trying to bring up in with a much larger sense of urgency with drastic
examples whereas Bradburys short story makes the readers evaluate the story a lot more to get
that same sense of urgency.
Collins is able to use vague examples of his futuristic world in which almost everything
is censored instead of coming right out and making the subject of censorship to his advantage
because of the writing is in the form of poetry that otherwise would not work if the piece was a
short story. The poem makes the readers think to find the true meaning on a deeper level that
The Pedestrian struggles to achieve because of its straight forward style. The readers are
almost forced to dive deeper into each drastic example that he gives. The best example of this in
the text is the first stanza of the poem where Collins is straight forward with the dangerous
consequences of censorship and technology but at the same time remains vague enough to make
the reader think. He starts with, Some time after the books had been forbidden The one about
the woman and her daughter, The one about the boy who spoke poorly And after the smoke
from the incinerators had cleared, (Rain, Collins, stanza 1). He is able to almost immediately
talking about his concerns that censorship is growing and nothing is being done to stop it, but
preserve the sort of mysterious wonder that the poem provides.
Another way that Collinss choice to use a poem provides him with an advantage over
Bradbury is that it gives him the chance to make multiple examples of what the future holds if
nothing is done about censorship, while Bradbury is only able to make one example in his short
story because it would seem as if he was going off topic. Collins talks about the burning of

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books, the censorship of plants and animals, the loss of writers and teachers, and the loss of
reading all while The Pedestrian is only able to cover the main storyline of just one character
with one issue. Collins gives the readers sort of drastic examples by saying, And after the
smoke from the incinerators had cleared. It was suggested that censorship be extended To the
plover, the wild turkey, and the common moorhen. But these birds have done nothing, a few
protested. Then the committee came after the morning glory For its suggestive furling and
unfurling And the ligustrum and the alstroemeria Because they were difficult to pronounce and
spell. Teachers disappeared on the way to their cars. By giving the reader multiple examples
and reasons to be concerned, Collins is able to get his point across in a much easier way than
Bradbury was able to do with his short story. Collins makes allusions to the future possibilities of
all things not just the future of technology, and hits on the fact that if society as a whole does not
do anything to stop the spread of censorship, it will eventually make its way away from just
individual expression and then will end up going after everything that is not at its simplest form.
In other words, it if is not easy to understand or it cannot be comprehended very quickly, it needs
to be censored.
On the other hand, Bradbury is able to express his concerns in a few different ways that
Collins would have trouble doing in the form of poetry. He is able to use the short story to make
a relatable example. He is also able to use the main characters struggle to talk about not only the
dangers of the advancement of technology, but also the consequences that continual censorship
will have on society. The Pedestrian allows Bradbury to bring up almost all of the same topics
and issues that Collins does in Rain but in a very straight forward way, using only one
example. One specific time in The Pedestrian is when Mr. Mead is walking by all of the
houses and continues to make small sarcastic remarks about what the people inside the houses

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are doing. He says. "Hello, in there," he whispered to every house on every side as he moved.
"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?" (The Pedestrian, Bradbury, page
1). He is poking fun at the idea that everything that the people in this society that is so censored
by the technology that now runs and controls every aspect of their lives is so basic and scripted
that it is the exact same thing every single night. He is able to use one example to hit on both the
subject of censorship and the dangers of the advancement of technology without concern for the
consequences that could occur.
Another example of how Bradburys use of the short story that allows him to voice his
concerns in a different way than Collins is how he uses hidden examples. In the story he uses the
questions that the robot cop car is asking. The officer says, "Business or profession?" "I guess
you'd call me a writer." "No profession," said the police car, as if talking to itself, (The
Pedestrian, Bradbury, Page 1). He is using basic and simple dialogue to make a point about how
if the precedent of censorship is not put to a stop, we will eventually lose writers which would
mean the loss of new literatures and the spread of new ideas. Collinss poem doesnt allow for
dialogue to do what Bradbury is able to do with his short story.
Despite the fact that Bradbury and Collins use two different styles to get across the same
message and concern for the future, there are a few similarities between the styles used to write
Rain and The Pedestrian that give us a deeper insight on their similar concerns.
One of the most obvious style similarities that the two stories share is the fact that both
pieces are written in a sort of dystopian society. Both stories focus on a sort of worst case
scenario as an example of what could happen if things dont change in our society. By giving the
reader a scenario where there is no creativity and spread of new idea, both Bradbury and Collins

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are able to get their point across as a sort of shock value effect that is supposed to make the
reader nervous and hopefully inspire change to come from the people.
Both Collins and Bradbury also use an ending that provides a sad or harsh conclusion. In
Rain, it pours for days on end but there are no books to read or talk about. At the end of The
Pedestrian, Mr. Mead is taken to a mental hospital. There are very similar themes in both the
poem and the short story. This may be a bit of a stretch, but A connection could be made that the
fact that Mr. Mead had switched his shoes so people could no longer hear him sneaking around is
almost like the people in Rain sneaking around and whispering. Things have gotten to a point
where people have to hide when they are doing things that we would consider to be normal
activities, but in this dystopian society, they would be punished harshly if their activities were
found out.
Some literary scholars might make the argument that Collins and Bradbury are not
gaining anything by using one form of writing over another because of the fact that they are both
talking about the same subject with the same concerns. This could be a valid point because the
styles of Collins and Bradbury, at least in these two stories, are quite similar. However, using
different forms of writing and differing styles gives and brings a whole new perspective to
similar topics and political concerns. By choosing to use one style over another, the author has
made the decision to bring up the topic and provide cause for awareness of the issue in a large
amount of different ways. Although the two authors have similar styles of writing, each uses their
form of writing to express concern in different ways.
Both Collins and Bradbury are very concerned with the notion of fearing for the future if
the path that society has not only began to lay down, but go down, as far as censorship and
blindly advancing technology without answering the basic question of morals; when is enough

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going to be enough? The authors are targeting everyone. They are asking for a call to action from
each member of society to stand up and make a change before it is too late to make a change and
we are stuck in society with no individual expression or freedoms. They are also calling out the
establishment as a sort of We know what youre doing statement to express the fact that the
people are becoming aware of the fact that their individual rights are being taken away. One
could also make the argument that the two authors, more Bradbury than Collins, are simply
trying to raise awareness of what the future could look like if people do not become more
cautious about all of the new technological advances that were and are being made around the
world. This becomes important to the reader because although these two pieces were written
during different time periods, they were both written when not only the Country, but the world
was on the brink of an entirely new social norm. If this was an issue 64 years ago, and was an
issue just a few years ago, it will continue to be an issue and a topic of concern around the world
until something is done about it.