August 2026 : There Will Come Soft Rains By Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury’s “August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains” and Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron”, both portray visions of a dystopian future. In “August 2026”, everyone has been wiped out by a nuclear disaster, while in “Harrison Bergeron”, the US government has created a society where everyone is equal. Although these stories have very different characters and plots, the central themes and settings are very similar to each other and how they are perceived by the reader. In these stories, Bradbury and Vonnegut wrote around a central theme intended so that the reader can relate to it: what may become of us in the future. As such with many short stories portraying dystopian societies, they both depict bad events such as nuclear disasters and evil dictators.

Technology is a helpful tool that society has become accustomed to using. However, the overuse of technology can lead to disaster. In “The Veldt” and “There Will Come Soft Rains”, Ray Bradbury explores the power that technology holds through the use of futuristic gadgets. Both stories contain smart homes that provide everything for the humans living in the house and show the destruction caused by it. Through these technological advancements, the reader sees how mankind is being defeated by its own creation in mental and physical ways. Bradbury uses the superior technology of the smart home, the replacement of humans for the newest electronics, and the dependence of technology on humans to explain that overindulgence of these modern appliances can have drastic results.

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

Everyday the world is growing older, and the human population is growing smarter. For instance, the short story There Will Come Soft Rains hints at the fact that a radioactive bomb caused an end to human civilization in a certain house. Although it may seem that this is something that could never happen in any near generation, were still left with the question of when will humans take it to far. In There Will Come Soft Rains, Ray Bradbury uses irony, personification, and symbolism to glamorize the fact that without humans populating the earth the world is a much more calm and peaceful place.

Throughout Ray Bradbury’s short story ‘There Will Come Soft Rains’ Bradbury expressed themes such as the automation and technology advancement along with nature prevailing and outlasting humanity. These themes were presented to me through the setting, characterisation, and symbolism. Automation and technology advancement was shown through setting, where the house is set in the future of Allendale. The house can perform many tasks that a human character can do; the house is able to speak poetry and even seems to be able to express all emotions. The house was threatened by fire; it screamed “Fire!”

reader feel a sense of dread and despair because unlike the house the reader knows the owners

Bradbury’s imaginings of the futuristic house are bold in attempting to convince the reader that it had human qualities and that the house had an almost above superiority over humans. “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.” (Bradbury 2) Bradbury describes the characteristics of the house, what it can do versus what humans would normally do in handling everyday tasks and chores. Almost with a religious cadence, the futuristic house continues to do its set duties.

The main theme of Bradbury’s “There Will Come Soft Rains” is technology has a lot of power, but it has its limits. “There Will Come Soft Rains” shows how technology can be both helpful and destructive. In the story, Bradbury suggests that technology is destructive by writing about a radioactive glow. “The house stood alone in a city if 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”. (328) This evidence shows some kind of nuclear warfare caused mass destruction in the city. On the other hand, Bradbury also shows how technology can be helpful. Bradbury mentions many examples of how technology has affected everyday living. The following examples were mentioned on page 328; “In the living room, the voice clock sang”, “In the kitchen the breakfast stove gave a hissing sigh and ejected from its

Albert Einstein once said, “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.” During the 1950s one of the most powerful inventions, the nuclear bomb, was on everybody's mind. An author called Ray Bradbury wrote science fiction texts and he wanted to show how people could died of nuclear destruction because of that nuclear forces it has caused problems in our society. In the story, “There will come soft rains” by Ray Bradbury, there is a house that started to burn down with the city. Therefore, technology has harmed society because society thinks that their inventions can protect them but it ends up harming humanity.

The house is always being referred to as alive, and throughout the story different parts of the house are being talked about as though they are body parts of a human. "Minute fungi overspread the whole exterior," just as a disease or an illness would overcome a human body (Poe 716). They say the house has eye-like windows and are of a crimson red. The house is connected to the family and the family name, because this family is the only family to have ever lived in this house, and the house has `seen' everything that has gone on with the family from the very beginning. As long as the house stays up and strong the family name will remain and continue, but if the house were to crumble the family members in it would die with the house. Because the house is almost like their hearts, and as long as it's alive and well they will stay alive and well, and the family name will be carried on.

Through the use of stylistic devices and character, Bradbury conveys his theme of the destructiveness of technology. He shows the reader that if technology reaches a point where it is doing daily chores and simple tasks for society, then we

Having spent one’s entire childhood through war and bombings can inspire many ideas, both positive and negative. From the fear of a nuclear bomb to the proud feeling of witnessing the first American man on the moon, Ray Bradbury took his experiences during World War II and the International Space Race and transformed them into literary pieces, such as “There Will Come Soft Rains”, “The Sound of Thunder”, and “The Pedestrian”. In these short stories, Bradbury includes elements of his own life into the plot, creating a message of caution to the readers through his riveting genre of dystopia. Some topics he stresses include time, technology, and its possible threats to human interaction. Through Bradbury’s unique style, he encapsulates the major issue of the rapid development in society and how it affects people in a social aspect. As new technology and science is innovated, there are many people who debate whether or not it can have harmful side effects to mankind. Among these three short stories, Bradbury uses the stylistic techniques of diction, imagery, and figurative language to convey that as society progresses through time, people lose their sense of humanity.

In 1950 this house would have seemed extremely crazy and way ahead of the time. But nowadays many of the things things the house could do happen now. In the story the house has the ability to send out little robotic mice that clean the house, it also has something to clean the dishes, read for people, automatic sprinkler systems, interactive alarm clocks, and a defense against fire. At the time these things would have seemed crazy to people but now we have robot vacuums that clean the house for people, dishwashers, audiobooks, automatic sprinklers, alarm clocks with reminders, and fire alarms and indoor sprinklers. Although we still are not quite where the house was we are getting closer and closer and eventually this could be a very real thing. Bradbury is trying to show that eventually it can get to a point where robots will be doing everything for us, which is dehumanizing and not what we are meant to

Though the newly developed technology has innumerable advantageous and has brought human civilization thus far, human’s reliance of this technology will bring upon their demise. The warning is enhanced as the author uses personification to bring life to the remaining lifeless objects after the perishing of humans, creating a sense of emptiness. Furthermore, throughout the account,the author symbolized the previous inhabitants of the house and humans as “the gods (that) had gone away”. Furthermore, Bradbury compares the house’s service to its habitants as a “ritual”. Yet, the absence of the humans rendered the “ritual” (the house's service and purpose) “senseless” and “useless”. For instance, when the house announced “‘Today is August 4, 2026,’ ”, “No doors slammed, no carpets took the soft tread of rubber heels” (Bradbury 1). (ADD THREE SENTENCES)The author’s warning about technology can be further be implied today, as the conundrum has only worsened throughout the years. Hence his warning is only becoming more

In “August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains”, a short story by world renown author Ray Bradbury, the narrator tells the story of a house in Allendale California, in the year 2026. The setting in this short story is very particular; it is set in a post-apocalyptic world that most likely illustrates the aftermath of a devastating nuclear war. The story takes place over the course of one day: “August 4, 2026”. The house that is described to the reader is the last house left standing, it’s deserted and surrounded by rubbles but it’s still technologically intact. The setting in this story takes a major role, it provides insight into the story, it facilitates