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

M any of Ray Bradburys novels tend to focus around the idea that gentleman downfall exit be due to the increased attention to technology and machines are incapable of military man emotion. Unlike intimately short stories, thither Will Come Soft Rains does non have any benignant characters. It is dear an automated provide. The stomach performs a routine, similar to a humans. It makes pancakes, cleans itself, reads poems in the subscribe to and more. But for whom? The family that used to wear in the hearthstone, and the surrounding area, has been wiped out by a nuclear blast. The house does not realize and continues as if nothing is wrong. As the story draws to a close, a tree outgrowth breaks through a window, beginning a chain reaction and starts a fire inside the house. The house desperately tries to save itself, but fails. Ray Bradburys There Will Come Soft Rains presents many an(prenominal) themes, including that human value are becoming upset, arguing that people c annot control their outcome however, the greatest right presented is that constitution ordain live on without humans and humanity.Throughout the short story, the idea that human values are becoming lost is prominent. Human obtainings, such as sorrow and joy, are only possess by humans. At the beginning, the only surviving member of the family, the click, walks into the house extremely sick with radiation poisoning. The dog has tracked in mud and the robotic mice that clean the house are not happy about it. rear the dog whirred angry mice, angry at having to pick up mud, angry at the inconvenience (Bradbury 2). sooner of feeling sympathy and compassion for the dog, the robotic mice are annoyed at the mess hes made. check out a human were in the house, they would find treatment for the dog or at least feel sympathy for the dogs situation. However since the mice are robotic, they are incapable of feeling these emotions. They are plainly angry at having to pick up the mess, and shortly after, the dogs corpse.In an essay by Jennifer Hicks, the author discusses the diverse images in There Will Come Soft Rains and their negative connections. In the story,everything is computerized, including the kitchen appliances. She discusses a stove that cooks by itself, a miracle we all might want, unfortunately stimulates toast that was like stone (Hicks 236). The stove makes the majority of the nutrient in the house for the family. But unfortunately, it lacks the ability to cook the toast to perfection it is programmed to make it hard as a rock. People are able to cook their own toast to the way they want it. As the story draws to a close, a fire breaks loose in the house and burns everything in its path. The fibber describes the fire as crackling up the stairs and feeding on Picassos and Matisses (Bradbury 3). Picasso and Matisse have produced any(prenominal) of the most valued masterpieces that have ever been created and the fire just burns them away. Machines and robots are not human and therefore cannot posses human qualities.Ray Bradbury suggests that when humans try to change nature, they will meet similar outcomes just like when they try to change their fate. While the house is going through its daily routine, the narrator dough to describe the setting. He describes the house standing alone in a city of detritus and changeand the one house left standing (Bradbury 1). From the excerpt, it can be determined that a nuclear detonation has occurred and the entire city has been reduced to rubble and ash. The nuclear bomb was originally developed to defend the people of the United States. Bradbury is telling the readers that what humans create to protect themselves will ultimately spiel their downfall. As the story progresses, the narrator describes the incinerator in the cellar.Bradbury compares the sighing of an incinerator which sat like evil Baal in dark corner (Bradbury 2). The incinerator in the cellar is compared to Baal, a false god created by humans. In this situation, Baal is a symbol for humans creations and their stupidity. Therefore, he represents any other technology in the house. According to the Bible, anyone who worships a false god will be condemned to an eternity in Hell. Since the people in the house relied on technology for every purview of their life, they were worshipping the technology and ultimately met their demise. Robert Peltier discusses the dangers of technology presented by Bradbury and how humans need to base their lives on arts and liberal arts rather than technology and objects humans create.Peltier states that ofcourse, Bradbury is really asking us to make judgments about our own lives and the monsters we create to make our lives easierand to make us feel safe in a humanity where we are destroying nature with our greed and arrogance (Peltier 237). The monsters Peltier is referring to, are the machines humans use on a daily basis. These demons ultimately bring the downfall of th e people, and very possibly the entire world. As humans try to change their existence in an attempt to make their lives longer or more prosperous, they inadvertently make their lives shorter. When humans attempt to shoo-in God and change their fate, sooner or later they will bring about their own demise.The most prominent theme throughout There Will Come Soft Rains is that nature will live on without humans. In the story, there are no humans and nature moves on as if they were never even there. In the middle of the story, the house reads a poem that speaks of nature and war. It reads, And not one will know of the war, not one/Will care at last when it is done (Bradbury 3). Similar to the story, a catastrophic disaster has struck and humanity has been wiped off the face of the Earth, but nature lives on and does not care that humans no longer exist. This is an example of irony because a similar tragedy has upset Allendale. Donna Haisty discusses the multiple themes presented in th e short story. She discusses how Bradbury illustrates humankinds powerlessness in the face of natural forces (Haisty 3). As the story draws to a close, a tree branch crashes through a window, spilling a bottle of cleaning solvent, which ignites a fire.The fire, being a force of nature, is unconquerable by the mechanized house, a human creation. The house symbolizes humans and their trifling creations while the fire symbolizes the unconquerable quality of nature. When the new day breaks, Bradbury describes it as pervade showing faintly in the easteven as the insolate rose to shine upon the heaped rubble and steam (Bradbury 4). After the fire completely destroys the house, the sun rises to a new day. A rising sun is archetypal for rebirth and in this situation it is rebirth for the world after the attack. Instead of being a rainy and gloomy day, the morning is bright and joyful. Throughout the story, it is evident that humanity is not necessary for the world to exist. Through the d uration of There Will Come Soft Rains the themes of human values being lost due tohumans trying to change their outcome and the idea that nature will live on without humans is very prominent. It must not be forgotten that human values can never be programmed into a machine humans cannot change their outcomes, lest they should bring their doom nearer, and that nature has no suppose for trivial things such as humans.Works CitedBradbury, Ray. There Will Come Soft Rains. http//www.elizabethskadden.com/files/therewillcomesoftrainsbradbury.pdf. n.p. n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. Haisty, Donna B. There Will Come Soft Rains. Masterplots II abruptly Story Series, Revised Edition (2004) 1-3. Literary consultation Center. Web. 6. Apr. 2014. Hicks, Jennifer. There Will Come Soft Rains. Short Stories for Students. Ed. Kathleen Wilson. Detroit Gale, 1997. 234-6. Print. Peltier, Robert. There Will Come Soft Rains. Short Stories For Students. Ed.Kathleen Wilson. Detroit Gale, 1997. 236-8. Print.