Foreshadowing In There Will Come Soft Rains

In concordance to the ideals conveyed by the literary works of science fiction and dystopian-themed texts, one common message that can be considered of great stance amongst such is that which declares: the ultimate destruction and doom of man, whether literal or philosophical, is one of a potentially self-inflicted nature, made possible to carry out through various, inconceivable factors. Such statements are indeed ones that are relatable, if not present already, in our current days, applicable to our modern world, and ones which can be held with the expectancy of further expanding into the cataclysmic circumstances foreshadowed by authors of such works.

1984, a dystopian novel by author George Orwell, elaborates on the idea of how the exaltation
of man unto god-like positions is indeed a hazard unto humanity itself, upon regarding the evil that outweighs the good within. Near the end of the novel, O’Brien, a type of antagonist, a loyalist to and leader in the totalitarian government in power referred to as “Big Brother”, rationalizes the intentions of those who embrace an authoritative control over others, characterizing the works of such people into one description. He makes it known to Winston, the novel’s protagonist, that, “the real power, the power [they] have to fight for night and day, is not power over things, but over men”(266). Big Brother’s intention, according to the book, is to force a submissive mindset unto all its constituents, making them come to abandon all sense humanity and personal pleasure, for the sake of a forced loyalty and love towards the party, no matter the cost and pain endowed upon them to succeed in such a goal. Furthermore, such acts were not one’s founded upon good intentions or for the sake of a common good unto all, rather meant simply for the sake of the attainability of power itself. Upon allowing the party to increment in power, the humanity within people became philosophically lost and thus doomed, as free-will was entirely surrendered to the Party. It stands to reason that the nations of our present world, those that embrace the ideals of dictatorship and communism as effective forms of government, are anything but exempt from this. Men filled with lustings after power are elevated to places of gods, exercising grand authority over those whom they rule over, causing self to be no more within the common individual and, thus achieving amongst their societies, equality of an eerie nature, based on the people’s conformity with their leaders; opposition is deterred through terror and violence, striking the hearts of the many with fear to go against, in even the smallest of ways, the mad men whom are as gods over them. Grand power in the hands of that which is ineffably good and naturally perfect can be trusted to further a better unto all, but when found in the hands of that which is naturally flawed, wicked, and inherently evil, such power is a pathway for utter destruction.

Ray Bradbury, in his short story There will Come Soft Rains, depicts a world where man’s doom has been literally brought about by his own machinations and creations.
There are two conjoining elements in this story that cause for this to happen: Man’s yearning for pleasure and his striving after greatness. In regards to pleasure, it is never enough, acting as a void within the hearts of all, constantly consuming itself in a manner where satisfaction always stands as unattainable. The house in Bradbury’s story, a character in itself that possesses some level of human sentience, is characterized by the text as, “an altar with ten thousand attendants, big, small, servicing, attending, in choirs”(3); Concerning humans and their roles in house’s daily course, the text reads, “But the gods had gone away, and the ritual of the religion continued senselessly, uselessly”(3). The contentment of humanity, according to Bradbury’s text, is something that can only be ascribed to that of the contentment of gods, something impossible to gratify; it is thus in that manner that self-inflicted destruction nears, for indeed the unsatisfiable pleasure within the common individual is a matter founded upon vanity, gluttony, laziness and self-absorption. An excessive amount of anything is of harm rather than good, and this is a concept equally applicable to pleasure without labor. These characteristics are undeniable in our daily lives; we possess a constant urge for instant gratification, from the foods we eat to the tasks of our daily course, both the great and small. This dooms humanity in the ideological sense where the arrogance of instant satisfaction blinds one from valuing hard work and efforts. In regards to man’s yearning for greatness, it is evident by the text’s setting that man’s weapons and innovative advancements for power have caused his immediate self-annihilation, as it is written, “At night the ruined city gave off a radioactive glow which could be seen for miles”(2). In
times of war, it can be said that when man goes against man, with all intention of destroying him, man is indeed destroyed, both ideologically and literally. In spite of factions, the humanity within the individual yet remains, and one does not cease to be human for being part of one side the other finds itself against. In our world today, and greatly emphasized by the historical happenings that have paved the way for the present circumstances, the impact of war destroys the humanity within its partakers, either by taking their lives in the process or by leaving a scarring remembrance, as in those who suffer from PTSD. Mens’ warrings doom men.

Space Oddity, a poem by songwriter David Bowie, conjoins these ideas from the previous two texts by bringing down the successes of man unto a humbling ubiety. Major Tom, the central figure of the poem, an astronaut, is sent on a space mission; but, upon finding himself before the grandeur of the perceivable universe, he finds himself dumbfounded by all that stands as greater than any of his or his counterparts’ successes. With a tone of aweing helplessness, he says to ground control, “Here am I sitting in a tin can, far above the world, planet Earth is blue and there's nothing I can do”(Lines 15-19). The security and hoped fulfillment of the mission was compromised by Major Tom’s awareness of the circumstances he found himself in. He acknowledges that his space shuttle, a vehicle that might have perhaps brought a sense of pride to its creators, secures him no more than a tin can would; Upon doing so, he undermines the accomplishments of man, demeaning them to the grounds of utter folly. This conveys to the reader the realization of how small man and his glories are, regardless of how great they may seem or be to man himself. Indeed, though the bearings of our strivings as a race may be vast, it is far from foolishness to perceive that the impending doom of man is one that may derive from the very forgetfulness of how small he truly is. This is apparent today, as one sees the boastings of those in power amongst the great nations of our world. Regardless of physical stature, such men threaten each other with their nations’ craftiness for war and weapons of mass destruction. Upon boasting of his ‘greatness’ and forsaking the idea of his ‘smallness’, it is such that only nears man into his impending nothingness.

It is then that the reader can come to the conclusion which declares: the greatest entity that stands as the ultimate threat to mankind is none other than mankind itself. The dystopian-themed texts and the literary works of science fiction aforementioned convey this declaration, each in its own unique way, hesitant to remove from man any culpable characterization apt to further such a thesis in the world and times we find ourselves to live in and abide amongst, today.