Ā Ā August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains (1950)Ā Ā is written by Ray Bradbury. ThisĀ short story is about a computer-automated house that routinely does daily tasks for for family. However, there is no family occupying the house orĀ responses towards these daily routines . So in the end of the story the house accidentally sets itself on fire , being almost destroyed. However, there is an ironic doom that at the end of the story.
In the beginning of the story , I read thatĀ house so intuitive or so ready and prepared, to do these tasks for this family. However,Ā we learn that the family died by incineration shown by there silhouette’s on the side of the wall on there house. In addition, the family most likely died by a nuclearĀ bomb when the author gave an indication that the city , miles away, had radioactive glow at night.Ā After this,Ā the whole house does it’s daily rituals at a timely matter throughout the whole dayĀ , till the house accidentally sets ablaze . The irony to this that the house is so well equipped to serve their masters or “gods” Bradbury once said, that it wasn’t prepared to save itselfĀ from the fire, thus to its ultimate doom.
As I also mentioned in the previous paragraph, Bradbury said the family was like “gods’ to theĀ house. We all know that humans create machines, so that it can better the lives of humans and make life much easier. In addition , Bradbury saidĀ that the house continues with the “ritual of religion … senselessly, uselessly.”Ā The house even responded toĀ the outsideĀ natural world with minor security precautionsĀ like birds , “lonely foxes” , ” whining cats” , and a dog . The dog entered the house and it’s the only time the house granted permission for the dog to enterĀ suggesting it’s the family’s pet. The poor dog was frail, suggesting it was dying of starvationĀ , thus leading to its death. The irony of thisĀ part of the story is the house is so ready to serve there mastersĀ with anything , but has failed to save the dog from its inevitable doom , as it’s the only living thing in the house and probably the closest thing the family. Thus, the dog could have much been consider as equal as its human masters and been saved if it was feed.
On the whole , some time in the storyĀ the house randomly plays a poem aloud forĀ Mrs.McClellan, who presumably is the wife of the unnamed husbandĀ and mother of her two unnamedĀ children. The poem describes how nature itself is unaffected by the human extinction and that no one knows how it happen. This poem is in comparison with the house itself. The house is greatly unaffected by the outside world and doesn’t know what happened . So its only duty , which it is automatically meant to do, is to perform the daily tasks for the family ceaselessly, unless if the family was alive they could have shut the house down itself. AndĀ because the house was unaffected by the outside world and as the house being a machine itself , was so intuitive to serve and do its daily task , it eventually lead it self to its own doom, which is quite ironic that it couldn’t save itself.
Congrats Justin, for your post being picked (along with Tyler’s post) for “People’s Choice Post” for the Bradbury blogs š