There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury Analysis

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Unlike humans, the house doesn’t think. It doesn’t have a heart like any one of us. The house processes automatically without thinking or considering the surrounding situation. At one point in the story, the family dog returns to the house where it finally succumbs to its radiation sickness. In the real-life world, pets are thought of as members of a family, and they deserve to be buried formally. However, in the story, the disposal of the carcass can’t be more cold-blooded. “The house sensed the dead dog and sent out swarms of the mice and rats to clean it up. Remembering the rats with steel jaws, the reader is meant to draw the conclusion that the dog, or nature, becomes easily and readily disposable in a world with rampant technological advancement” (A Literary Analysis of There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury). The story wants to tell us that humanity only exists in the human society, not in technology.

“There Will Come Soft Rains” is a warning sent to the readers with a scenario of what could happen in the near future if we become too dependent on technology. The message of the story is telling us it’s our responsibility as humans to prevent this story from becoming real. Despite the wonders of automated living the house provides, it’s still a mindless machine. The house, as a representation of technology, can supposedly do anything, but it still cannot save humans from destroying themselves. It can’t even save itself. Although we’ve been trying to develop technology and automate everything, we’ll never be able to overcome nature. The important point of the theme of the story is: Humanity shouldn’t be replaced by technology in any way.

Works Cited

Bradbury, Ray. “There Will Come Soft Rains.” They Say / I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing, with Readings, edited by Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst, 3rd ed. Norton, 2017, pp. A-19-A-26.

McLaughlin, Patrick. “A Literary Analysis of There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury.” Digication e-Portfolio, 22 Apr. 2013, https://elon.digication.com/a_literary_analysis_of_there_will_come_soft_rains/A_Literary_Analysis_of_There_Will_Come_Soft_Rains. Accessed 19 November 2017.