Inside There Will Come Soft Rains Ray Bradbury is an icon to readers. Still to this day he is an author, essayist, playwright, screenwriter, lecturer, poet and visionary. Bradbury is an amazing character that has achieved amazing things throughout his life. Bradbury was born on August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. Growing up he was very loved by his family. He had a great childhood. Bradbury attended Los Angeles High school where he contributed in many clubs. He was part of the drama club inspired to be an actor. He improved his grades and then joined the poetry club where he let his soul free and wrote about what he wanted.
He joined many after school activities to follow his dreams of being a writer. Two of his teachers encouraged him to be a writer because he had the natural ability to write. After he graduated high school, he sold newspapers on the corners of Los Angeles to make money and ended his day by going to the library every night to continue his education. As life went on he got married and had four intelligent children. In 1938, his writing career had a huge break through his first story, “Hollerbochen’s Dilemma”, was published. Then in 1945 his short story “The Black and White Game” was selected for best American short story.
His writing career blasted of and all his time and dedication he put in before all paid off. “RayBradbury is known as one of America’s greatest creative geniuses. ” (John Perry 1), resembled his great success that accomplished throught his years. He is a true genius and he will continue surprising people with his amazing talent of writing inspiring works of literature. Ray Bradbury has many interesting and exhilarating stories. “August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains” was one of them. This story predicts the future and tells the readers what will happen when mankind is no longer there. What is left is just technology.
It shows how people got very dependent on technology. But Nature is the strongest force out there and there is not one thing that can stop nature. The scenario is that a nuclear holocaust destroyed everything except this one house. This house is fully equipped with 21st century technology. Even though there are no people the house works on a specific schedule 24 hours 7 days a week. The story begins normally, alarm clock goes off and right away that’s a sign of people. What was not expected was that there is no humans beings what so ever, it was just one little house by it self, around is just rubble and debree.
Since this story is written as if it was in the future, everything is automated. The house is a machine that did everything from cleaning to preparing food. Although people are not present (because of the nuclear holocaust), the house still functions. The climax of the story is when a weak tree bough crashed through the kitchen window, knocking over cleaning solvent over the stove. Instantaneously the kitchen catches fire. The house tried its best to defend itself but as we all know nature is unstoppable. This story is phenomenon; it’s very intense and has you on the edge of your seat the whole time.
This story is made for the reader to visualize the actual story, as if you were actually there. All that is left is the lonely house and the wounded dog. What happens in the end really is unexpected and even sad. In Ray Bradbury’s short story “August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rain”, He uses various literary devices to warn us about the dangers of technology . Bradbury uses symbols to illustrate that humans are to dependent on technology. He uses the themes of the story to warn us about how technology can move against us. Finally he uses irony to show that technology might not be a true friend.
The most major and meaningful theme of this story is that humans are very dependent on technology. He uses the themes of the story to warn us about how technology can move against us. Technology is a huge part of life today so people are becoming lazier and are becoming careless about the world. As Einstein once said, “World War I was fought with muskets, World War II was fought with rifles, World War III will be fought with nuclear weapons and World War IIII will be fought with sticks. ” Einstein predicted that technology would take over, same as the story implied.
With these incredible innovations life is becoming easier but it is harming people in a way that no one can see. In this short story we see how the world turns into nothing all because of the new innovations of technology. Also everything in the house is operated by robots. Breakfast, cleaning, bed time stories, everything is done by the robots in the house. “Nine-five. A voice spoke from the ceiling: “Mrs. McClellan, which poem would like this evening? ” (Bradburry 3), this is an example of technology taking over, instead of people reading to themselves robots read to them.
Less reading would make humans less educated therefore it can lead to uneducated choices. The machinery in the house shows that mankind is becoming lazy and laziness causes depression and aggression. That’s may be the reason of the nuclear holocaust. Technology is a great thing but it has to be monitored and controlled. Another strong theme is that nature is the most powerful force, it’s unstoppable. Nothing can get in its way like we see in the story. “Humans have created a bomb that destroys them all and a house that is incapable of being destroyed by the bomb. ut fire, a force of nature, is able to to destroy the house. ” (Literary Critisism 231), this describes that nature really is the strongest force. Even the best and most intelligent and sufficicated technology can not over take nature. As we see in the story the house is taken down in an instant because of a fire that started very minor but grew and engulfed the whole entire house. The fire started because of a weak tree bought broke of and swung in to the kitchen window shattering the glass. The bough knocked down the cleaning solvent all over the oven creating the fire.
The house tries to defend itself as much as possible but it fails. It just shows how powerful nature really is. These two themes have big meaning in the story and in life. Bradbury’s message was that humans are getting spoiled with technology and potentially it can cause great harm to us. Symbolism was a huge part of this short story. Bradbury uses symbols to illustrate that humans are to dependent on technology. Throughout the story many symbols are thrown out. The two symbols that stand out the most are the wounded dog and the mechanical mice.
In this story humans are extinct and the only actual living thing is the dog that is wounded from all debris of the explosions. This dog symbolized strength and peace. Just like all other animals, the dog does not harm the world, but people are the blame for all the negative effects on the world. Throughout the story the dog pulls strong and tries to keep living. “The dog, once huge and fleshy, but now gone to bone and coverd in sores, moved through the house, tracking mud. ” (Bradburry 2), this is the represenation of strength, will, and detrmination because it takes true strength and will to fight starvation, loneliness, and pain.
What is important about this symbol is that it takes mental strength to control your actions and to have peace you need strength, but you also need phsyical strenth to fight and overcome whatever is in your way. That’s what the dog had and that’s why it survived even though diing it showed its courage and power to stay alive. Another symbol that is portrayed is that the robots are representing mankind attempt to be a god. Creating a fully functional mini world that does everything for them. Each robot had its own specific use. But the same technology that helped them actually kills them.
Symbols that are thrown at you throughout the story are vital to understand the meaning behind the story. Irony had a big influence on the story. he uses irony to show that technology might not be a true friend. “The same technology which created a house that can cook and clean is also the technology which destroyed all the people on the planet. ” (Literary Critisim 232), shows the true meaning of irony. Technology is extremely important to society but when it gets in the wrong hands it can end in a catastrophic ending. ”The house tried to save itself.
Doors sprang tightly shut, but the windows were broken by the heat and the wind blew and sucked upon the fire. ” (Bradburry 3) this shows how the house tries its best to defend itself from the unstoppable fire. No one would ever expect that to happen because technology was supposed to help and make things easier, instead it became an enemy. Also what was very ironic is how a minor tree bough ignites a fire and completely destroys what was supposed to be erudite house. It comes to show that nothing can come in between with nature, even the most sophisticated technology.
Everythimg is unpreidcated so instead of it being a negative thing and make it a positive motive. The short story had lots of detail that made you think and relate to yourself and that’s why Bradbury is such a talented writer. He makes you step out of your shoes and create your own image of the story. The theme, symbolism, and irony gives the story its strong structure and creates a well-developed story like this one. Ray Bradbury is a one of a kind writer and he has created amazing pieces of literature. He will be known as the legend of literature for years to come..
