Who’s Ray Bradbury ?
Ray Douglas Bradbury born on August 22, 1920 – June 5, 2012, was an American author and screenwriter. He worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy,science fiction, horror, and mystery fiction.
Predominantly known for writing the iconic dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451(1953), and his science-fiction and horror-story collections, The Martian Chronicles(1950), The illustrated Man(1951), and I Sing the Body Electric (1969), Bradbury was one of the most celebrated 20th- and 21st-century American writers.
Recipient of numerous awards, including a 2007 Pulitzer Citation, Bradbury also wrote and consulted on screenplays and television scripts, including Moby Dick and It Came from Outer Space. Many of his works were adapted to comic book, television, and film formats. Upon his death in 2012, The New York Times called Bradbury "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream".
The short story:"There Will Come Soft Rains" is a short story by science fiction author Ray Bradbury which was first published on May 6, 1950. Later that same year the story was included in Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles (1950).
PLOT : A nuclear catastrophe leaves the city of Allendale, California entirely desolate; the leveled urban area is described briefly as emitting a "radioactive glow". However, within one miraculously preserved house, the daily routine continues –automatic systems within the home prepare breakfast, clean the house, make beds, wash dishes, and address the former residents without any knowledge of their current state as burnt silhouettes on one of the walls. In spite of the homeowners' evident deaths, the house's systems zealously uphold its sanctity, frightening off surviving birds by closing the window shutters. One afternoon, a dog is allowed into the house when it is recognized as the family pet, but it dies soon after a combination of starvation and radiation sickness as well as loneliness, and the corpse is disposed of by the house's cleaning system. That evening, the house recites to the absent hostess her favorite poem, "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Sara Teasdale. An accidental fire breaks out in the kitchen and spreads throughout the entire house. The house's systems desperately and futilely attempt to salvage the house, but the doomed home burns to the ground in a night. The following dawn, a single voice from the lone surviving wall endlessly repeats the time and date.
Nature vs. Humankind: Throughout the story, natural phenomena and raw materials symbolize nature’s lasting dominance over humankind and technology. A few birds, cats, foxes, and the dog survive the atomic bomb, for example, suggesting that nature can endure even the most destructive technology human beings have at their disposal. Later in the story, a tree branch falls on the house, causing the fire that ultimately destroys the building. Both the tree and the fire are additional representations of nature that prove adept at infiltrating and destroying mankind’s technological creations. The water that runs out while the house tries to extinguish the fire further represents the ultimate reliance of even advanced technology on the resources of natural world
Bradbury’s inclusion of Sara Teasdale’s poem solidifies the dominion of nature of man, ending with a line asserting that “Spring herself” would not notice mankind’s absence. Finally, the sun that shines over the smoldering rubble of the house in the last moments of the story symbolizes nature’s definitive victory over mankind’s creations. Bradbury suggests in “There Will Come Soft Rains” within The Martian Chronicles that the human race will ultimately meet its doom. And when it does, the universe will simply continue revolving on its axis without experiencing the slightest impact caused by it. Especially pertinent to the 21st-century audience, Bradbury suggests that nature has a potent ability to overpower humans and our impact on the world, despite all industrial innovations that have revolutionized our civilization and despite all the technological accomplishments we might have achieved during our time on earth.
Theme: The poem praises man’s great accomplishments, but also expresses sadness over our ability to destroy ourselves. It shows our great inventions and accomplishments outliving us, but still trying to serve and please us. Without the creativity and presence to maintain it, it eventually perished.
Literary Devices:
Irony:
Technology is used to improve life and also destroy it.
The house continues catering to people who aren't there anymore.
Mrs. McClellan's favorite poem is about how nature wouldn't care if humans exterminated themselves.
The house withstands a nuclear blast, but is destroyed by nature.
The mechanical voice twice announces the date, which is only meaningful to humans.
Assonance:“Tick-Tock, seven o’clock”.
Repetition: “Tick-Tock>>.
Personification: “And the rain tapped on the empty house”.
(there is more, like suspense, allusion and foreshadowing which is an important one).