Ray Bradbury's 'The Illustrated Man' is a collection of short stories. Among them, the two stories that depict pessimism are the 'Kaleidoscope' and 'The Highway'. In Kaleidoscope, the space ship malfunctions so it drifts aimlessly in space. The astronauts think about their past and they realized that they didn't do anything worthwhile in their life. In 'The Highway', a couple saves refugees telling them that the nuclear war is going to end the world.