Ray Bradbury’s “There Will Come Soft Rains” Essay

What would the hu spells be like if hu worldity disappe ared? This is the national of Ray Bradburys fable There Will Come Soft Rains. All of the compositors cases in the study are machines, which by personification take the place of human characters. The theme of mans death reverberates throughout the spirit level. Bradbury uses personification to describe the mechanic creations of man that flushtually lead to the storys theme of the conclusion of mankind.There are no human characters at all in the story instead, there are machines with human characteristics. Miller nones that personification is everlastingly used to describe the cans actions (1). This is seen in the first place of the story, In the living room the voice-clock sang, Tick-tock, s up to now oclock, time to micturate up, seven o clock as if it were afraid that nobody would (Bradbury 76). The disoblige of the voice-clock gives it a humanoid impression, which allows it to take the place of human character s. Another interest example of personification is seen in the way that Bradbury describes the robotic mice. Behind it whirred fantastic mice, angry at having to pick up mud, angry at inconvenience (Bradbury 77).However, machines are incapable of feelings. Hicks observes that readers are reminded that the rodent readers are robotlike, and that feelings-those highly praised human emotions-cannot equal in machines (234). In fact, there is only one living character in the whole story. As Jennifer Hicks points out, the only live being in the house is the dog, who enters mid-story (234). The dog is not very seemly. The dog, once huge and fleshy, nevertheless now gone(a) to bone and covered with sores, moved in and through the house, tracking mud (Bradbury 77). It is pathetic and dying, much like the human race. spirit after the destruction of man is the main theme of the story. It is hinted in the story that an nuclear bomb was the cause of mans demise. Bradbury does not blatantly ta ll the reader that an atomic catastrophe occurred, but reveals it by describing the house and its surroundings (Miller 6). The reader is told that, The house stood alone in a city of rubble and ashes. This was the one house left standing. At night the finished city gave off a radioactive glow which could be seen for miles (Bradbury 77). The ruined city and radioactive glow give readers enough clues toconclude that atomic warfare was the cause of mans downfall. While it is known that the flat coat is now empty, Bradbury also indicates that it was empty before the bomb. Peltier suggests that this field was empty even before the destruction, with mechanical mice vacuuming and a sing-song clock telling time. The dull, mechanical world was empty long before peck were taken from it (238). This can be seen in the nursery, where Animals took shape yellow giraffes, blue lions, pink antelopes, lilac panthers cavorting in crystal substance. The walls were glass.They looked out upon color and fantasy (Bradbury 78). Children do not even go outside to enjoy nature, but watch it on their mechanical walls, their lives growing more and more hollow and empty. Another point that Bradbury makes is that if man disappeared, nothing would wish, or even notice. Peltier explains that The title of the story, taken from the poem quoted indoors it, suggests that if humankind were gone, nature would not only endure, but it would also not even notice our disappearance (237). Sara Teasdales poem best illustrates this. And not one will know of the war, not one/Will care at last when it is done./Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,/If mankind perished utterly/ And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn/ Would scarcely know that we were gone (Bradbury 79). Indeed, life would go on after mankind, and would go on peacefully.Therefore, Bradburys use of personification describe the machines that eventually lead to the storys theme of mankinds destruction. Personification allows the ma chines to show us what the people who owned the house were like cold, impersonal, and oblivious to the outside- characteristics that led to both man and machines downfall. The author uses the storys theme of the destruction of man to show readers the effects of becoming too dependent on machines and withdrawing from nature and the world. The chilling thing about Bradburys story is the plea of human dependency on machinery today, and the realization that in such a technologically advanced world, the story could easily become reality.