Soft Rain Essay

600 Words3 Pages
In Ray Bradbury’s story, There Will Come Soft Rains, he depicts a future 2026 world with very advanced technology. It is an unusual story in that it contains no human characters. However, because of it’s human like qualities the house itself is a character. This automated house can cook, clean, read, and do everything on its own in the absence of human life. The central irony of the story is the fact humans have been destroyed rather than saved by their very own technology. In a further moral lesson, Bradbury shows how human technology is able to withstand the demise of its maker, yet is ultimately destroyed by nature, a force which prevails over all others. The way that Bradbury shows that technology outlasts its creators is by characterizing the house with anthropomorphic, human, characteristics. Bradbury shows the anthropomorphic characteristics of the house right away in the first paragraph with the voice clock singing, “tick-tock, seven o’ clock, time to get up, time to get up, seven o’ clock!” The stove then makes breakfast for the people and the ceiling announces the date and important events for the day. The clock tells the time again at eight o’ clock and outside the weather predicts the weather. At eight-thirty the dishwasher cleaned the kitchen and washed the dishes. When nine-fifteen comes the robotic mice come out of the wall and clean up the house. At noon the front door lets the dog in and he tracks mud into the house. Behind the dog are the robotic mice that are angry because they have to clean when it is not there time to clean. Then the stove makes lunch with the dog running in circle trying to get some food. The dog died in the parlor and a few minutes later the robotic mice come out and clean up the dead dog and push it into the incinerator. At two thirty-five bridge tables pop out with cards and chips, martinis and sandwiches are
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