Symbolism

In this story "The Garbage Collector," Ray Bradbury uses symbolism by giving the garbage men an extra job as a coroner. Daily, these men go house to house, place to place to do there job as a garbage man. They collect garbage because that's their job, but then one day the mayor wants them to pick up dead bodies. The Coroner or EMT is usually the person that deals with the bodies, but now it's the garbage men's job.

Theme #1

The story starts off by the character introducing how everyday he enjoys getting up going to work. But later on in the story he starts to see how society is controlling his every action . He talks about how the Truck has a radio and can hear everything. Society is always trying to take control of us wherever we go, what we say, and also what we do. In the story, Ray Bradbury is trying to say how controlling our government is and it always wants to know our every step even if its good or bad. The garbage collector starts to talk how bad this is going to be and he does not like which makes him want to quit his job. Thus, the fact that our government is controlling us and we can't stop it.

Theme # 2

In this story, technology has become apart of their society. Technology plays a big part in this short story, whether people think so or not. In the garbage trucks there are no radios, leaving the garbage men in complete silence. Then one day in a newspaper bulletin the mayor tells readers, how they will be putting radios in all the trucks. These radios are not for the workers to listen to and enjoy the music while working. These apparatus are for them to be able to send and receive messages and locations, on where to pick up bodies during the bombing. This technology is telling them how to do a job they have been doing for many years, while controlling how these "garbage men" (so to speak) do their jobs. This technology is also giving them a task or a job as a coroner. I don't believe that's in their job description.

Importance of Setting

The setting of the story takes place in Los Angeles where its always busy accept in the morning when every one is sleeping and the garbage collector arrives to do his job. The character talks about how beautiful the sun is when it blossoms into the sky. He loves waking up to the morning air while drinking some coffee to keep him up and energetic as he works. But when technology starts to take over his life the day becomes gloomy and, because of how the world his becoming.

Characterization

The garbage collector had a daily routine of washing his face with warm water if the heater was working and cold water if the heater wasn't working. He shaved carefully while talking out to his wife who was in the kitchen. By six o'clock his was driving on his way to work. Some mornings it was extremely cold enough for him to see his breath. His co-worker and him, often stop for coffee on the way. He starts talking very calm about his job that he loves. He was disturbed by the article in the paper. From reading the article, he became upset over the outcome of his routes.The garbage collector is very calm and waiting for that day that he can't get away from his new line of work. He is used to not being told what to do and now with the radios being installed in all the trucks, that's about to change.

Summary

Life was going pretty good for the garbage man and his wife. He would wake up to a job that he was surprised to find that he loved; he felt it was the finest job in the world. The job as a garbage collector was suitable to him, because it kept him busy and calm. One day while working, he felt something, like a slight change in his job. In a matter of hours, in a single day he wondered how his job could have changed so rapidly. When he returned home from work that day he told his wife "I think I'm going to quit my job. Try to understand." Confused as his wife was the first thing she could do was yell with confusion and sorrow in her voice. The Garbage man removed a part of the "December 10, 1951 Los Angeles Times Civil Defense Bulletin from his pocket that says they're buy radios for the garbage trucks. Followed by the mayor saying, "they'll put sending and receiving apparatus on every garbage truck in town. After the bombs his the city then their garbage trucks will go pick up the bodies." The man could not understand why they would dispose of the bodies in this type of manner. He felt that he should not be a garbage collector anymore, and that's not what garbage collecting was about. His wife tried to persuade him otherwise, due to their financial situation such as bills, money, and credit; also the kids, school, and the car. "I'm afraid that if I continued my new work I'll get used to it. And, on Christ, it just doesn't seem right a man, a human being, should ever let himself get used to any idea like that."