How Is the Continual Battle of Nature vs Human Technology Represented Throughout the Story? in There Will Come Soft Rains by Bradbury
Explain how Bradbury uses this story to question human’s reliance on technology
The house was created for the sole purpose of serving mankind.
The house cannot save the family, or humans, from the viciousness of a nuclear bomb.
By the time the reader is exposed to the house, the owners have been eradicated, “their images burned on wood in one titanic instant”. The house continues to make breakfast, have little robotic mice that clean the house, and even read poetry for, essentially, no one.
When the story begins, it appears that machinery has triumphed over humans.
Humankind might have fallen beneath the powerful nuclear bomb, but technology has not.
Furthermore, while the family relied on the house to take care of them, the house does not require them to survive.
However, as the story proceeds, the reader watches as the house is attacked by a fire. As the house scrambles to save itself, there is a sense of panic. “Doors sprang tightly shut” and “blind robot faces peered down with faucet mouths gushing green chemical”. In the end, the house succumbs to the blaze and crumbles. The only bit of technology remaining is the dying voice of the house, proclaiming the current day to be “August 5, 2026”. While technology has ultimately lost the battle of survival, humans lost the war long ago.
Bradbury uses this story as a warning of just how little technology and nature care for the endurance of humanity. “Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree, if mankind perished utterly. And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn. Would scarcely know that we were gone.” This is seen throughout the story, as the house continues to function without the aid of the family that owns it. Humans developed this technology to help them, but the technology does not care if humans are around to use its services.
Ultimately, Bradbury warns not about the advancement of technology but rather the complete dependence on it. The conveniences that the house provides
The house was created for the sole purpose of serving mankind.
The house cannot save the family, or humans, from the viciousness of a nuclear bomb.
By the time the reader is exposed to the house, the owners have been eradicated, “their images burned on wood in one titanic instant”. The house continues to make breakfast, have little robotic mice that clean the house, and even read poetry for, essentially, no one.
When the story begins, it appears that machinery has triumphed over humans.
Humankind might have fallen beneath the powerful nuclear bomb, but technology has not.
Furthermore, while the family relied on the house to take care of them, the house does not require them to survive.
However, as the story proceeds, the reader watches as the house is attacked by a fire. As the house scrambles to save itself, there is a sense of panic. “Doors sprang tightly shut” and “blind robot faces peered down with faucet mouths gushing green chemical”. In the end, the house succumbs to the blaze and crumbles. The only bit of technology remaining is the dying voice of the house, proclaiming the current day to be “August 5, 2026”. While technology has ultimately lost the battle of survival, humans lost the war long ago.
Bradbury uses this story as a warning of just how little technology and nature care for the endurance of humanity. “Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree, if mankind perished utterly. And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn. Would scarcely know that we were gone.” This is seen throughout the story, as the house continues to function without the aid of the family that owns it. Humans developed this technology to help them, but the technology does not care if humans are around to use its services.
Ultimately, Bradbury warns not about the advancement of technology but rather the complete dependence on it. The conveniences that the house provides