Class VI English: There will come soft rains
“There Will Come Soft Rains” –Ray Bradbury
What is the organizational structure of the story? (In what format is it told-what order?) What effect does the structure of the test create on the story itself?
This story follows a chronological structure. The voice clock, in italics, keeps listing the time as the house goes through its day. The chronological structure creates an orderly effect at first, but as you read on you realize things are out of order.
The story begins at 7:00, with the line: “…In the living room the voice clock sang….as if it were afraid nobody would…” What literary devices does Bradbury use? What is the effect of the author’s use of these literary devices?
Bradbury is using personification. This is significant because it helps the reader to understand characterization and it also is a clue to the theme. It is evident from early in the story that there are no human characters and through personification Bradbury makes the house the main character of the story. The author also uses foreshadowing. By suggesting that the house is afraid no one would get up, it hints at the fact that there are no people in the house to wake up.
What has happened in the city? How do you know?
The city was ruined from some sort of nuclear blast. It describes the rubble and ashes and the radioactive glow. On lines 41-45 “Ten o’clock. The sun came out from behind the rain. The house stood alone in a city of rubble and ashes. This was the one house left standing. At night the ruined city gave off a radioactive glow which could be seen for miles.”
What is ironic about the author’s description of the house as on a “mechanical paranoia”?
He describes the house as trying to protect itself from intruders when it hears the scurrying of otherwise silent animals. When it gets no answer, it shuts itself up, trying to keep everything safe from the outside. The reality is it could not protect itself or its humans against human’s own developed technology and that the technology survived beyond the humans.
Reread the paragraph below.
“…The house was an altar with ten thousand attendants, big, small, servicing, attending, in choirs. But the gods had gone away and the ritual of the religion continued senselessly, uselessly.”
What literary device is Bradbury using and how does it contribute to the message he is conveying?
Bradbury is using metaphor. He is comparing the relationship of the humans and the technology to that of those who practice an organized religion. In this case, the humans were the gods, programming and controlling the house until it acted without command. Now the humans are gone and the house continues to follow their teachings without question, regardless of the fact that they have been destroyed by the very technology they created and worshipped.
Reread the section about the dog (Lines 77-107). What point is Bradbury making by introducing the dog at this juncture (point) in the story?
The dog makes its way through the atomic waste and is frantically trying to find the family. The house keeps working, not really realizing that the family is gone. This shows the vast difference between animal instincts and the connection humans and animals have, to the connection humans have to the technology. Whereas the house is being described as having human-like characteristics, but it does not even realize the family is gone. It is mindlessly going through the tasks that it has been programmed to do.
How does the author describe the nursery? What is significant about the way the nursery is decorated? What makes this seem ironic?
It is a technologically created nature scene, set to reveal itself at a specific time of day. Suggesting that the children in the house experience nature that is manipulated, as opposed to having authentic experiences. The family even uses technology to create the fantastical element of nature, pink and purple animals, etc.
When no poem is chosen, the house chooses “There Will Come Soft Rains” by Sara Teasdale. What is the theme of the poem? Why does the author include the poem in the text of the story?
This poem is about the effects of war. Nature will move on and not even realize that mankind is missing. The title of the story is the same as the first few words of the poem. Bradbury is connecting the theme of the relationship of man and nature and the destructive force of war and its connection to technology.
At line 165 the style of denoting the time has changed. Why? What does the author’s choice about the structure at this point in the text signify?
The time goes from being written in italics, which signifies the voice clock, to regular print. This is the turning point in the story, the narrator changes, as the house is dying as the technology begins to fail.
Reread from line 165 to the end of the story. What literary device does the author use to depict the fire? What does the description of the fire suggest? What do you think Bradbury is saying through this?
The literary device used is personification. It is as if the fire has a mind of its own and is looking to outsmart the technology of the house. The author suggests that there are limits to technology. As sophisticated as the technology was, it could not stand up to the power and fury of nature. “The house shuddered, oak bone on bone.” “In the last instant, under the fire avalanche, other choruses, oblivious, could be heard announcing the time…”. Nature wins the battle against technology.
Compare the description of the kitchen in lines 7-10 to lines 231-239. What do these differing descriptions illustrate?
The differing descriptions illustrate the shift in mood from the beginning to the end. The story builds from a calm, normal day for the house then to a frantic climax as the house attempts to defend itself from the attack and is ultimately consumed by fire.
What is the significance of the repeated references to rain throughout the story?
Rain is an element of the other main character of the short story—nature. The sound of rain is heard throughout the story. It shows up at the beginning as the weather box sings for the rain to go away. Rain could have saved the house from fire but does not. The house was relying once again, on the technology, but that water system failed, and there was no natural rain that night. Even though it had been raining earlier that day and the house wanted that rain to go away. Ultimately, rain is part of nature and cannot be controlled by technology.
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