Discrimination In Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man
702 Words3 Pages
For hundreds of years discrimination has played been an essential and unavoidable part of society. America was founded and built through slavery, great societies such as ancient Egypt were developed on hierarchies. Slowly through the decades people have fought in an attempt to eradicate these negative ideas. The struggle of equality continues on, being a underlying and almost necessary aspect of every society. The struggle of balancing the equality and discrimination was explored in Ray Bradbury’s anthology The Illustrated man. The Illustrated man was burdened with tattoos dancing across his back that foretold the future. Once someone saw these dismal stories it did not take long for them to become horrified and then ostracize him. The Illustrated…show more content… In The Illustrated Man this danger is shown when the injustice towards him creates a jealous beast. As The Illustrated Man is reviewing how he became a man with such terrifying stories across his back, he shows a peek of his malevolent side, saying, “I’ve hunted every summer for fifty year, when I find that witch I’m going to kill her”(). This was the monster that discrimination created. A man seeking a terrifying revenge against the women that gave him the tattoos. The simple way he talks about “the witch” initiates fear. The next moment in the novel where fear ensues is the very end. After the narrator has watched all of the stories, he watches one more take shape on a previously blank part of The Illustrated Man’s back, “The picture on his back showed the Illustrated Man himself, with his fingers around my neck, choking me to death”(). Through the endless discrimination bestowed upon The Illustrated Man, this was the result, a monster. Unlike the witch that drew the illustrations, he had no reason to kill this innocent man. It was the built up anger created through years of being shunned that created a