Short Story Analysis
Short story analysis – There will come soft rains (1950)
The short story “August, 2026: There will come soft rains” written by Ray Bradbury in 1950 deals with the theme humanity and their technology.
The story deals with a nuclear disaster that ruined the entire city despite one house which keeps on living it daily life. It starts with announcing the date of August 4th, 2026 and that it is itme to wake up, though nobody is there. Breakfast is automatically prepared but no on one is there to eat it. The house performs it daily tasks like throwing the uneaten meals away and tiny robot mice clean the house. Outside the garden sprinklers go on and the wall of the house can be seen where the paint has been all burned off. Except for a few silouhettes of the family who were outside as the nuclear disaster happened. The rest of the neighborhood is destroyed and the whole city gives off a radioactive glow. The family dog enters the heouse, he is starving, becomes totally insane and eventually dies. The robot mice automatically clean everything and take the dog away to the incinator. In the afternoon all daily routines go on. In the evening dinner, a cigar and the beds get prepared. As it is time to go to bed the voice asks which poem it should read out. Since no one answers it chooses a random poem. At ten o’clock late that night a tree bough falls on the house, cleaning solvent shattered on the stove and causes a fire. The house tries to save itself and warns the nonexisting family, but all waterreserves are gone due to the daily cycle of preparing everything. The house burns to the ground except for one wall which is still able to give the date of the following day just like every morning.
In the beginning of the story, technology has rendered mankind totally unnecessary in the daily running of the house. For example “Tick-tock, seven o’clock, time to get up […]”(l.1 - 2), shows that the house automatically has an alarm clock which portrays that the humans are
The short story “August, 2026: There will come soft rains” written by Ray Bradbury in 1950 deals with the theme humanity and their technology.
The story deals with a nuclear disaster that ruined the entire city despite one house which keeps on living it daily life. It starts with announcing the date of August 4th, 2026 and that it is itme to wake up, though nobody is there. Breakfast is automatically prepared but no on one is there to eat it. The house performs it daily tasks like throwing the uneaten meals away and tiny robot mice clean the house. Outside the garden sprinklers go on and the wall of the house can be seen where the paint has been all burned off. Except for a few silouhettes of the family who were outside as the nuclear disaster happened. The rest of the neighborhood is destroyed and the whole city gives off a radioactive glow. The family dog enters the heouse, he is starving, becomes totally insane and eventually dies. The robot mice automatically clean everything and take the dog away to the incinator. In the afternoon all daily routines go on. In the evening dinner, a cigar and the beds get prepared. As it is time to go to bed the voice asks which poem it should read out. Since no one answers it chooses a random poem. At ten o’clock late that night a tree bough falls on the house, cleaning solvent shattered on the stove and causes a fire. The house tries to save itself and warns the nonexisting family, but all waterreserves are gone due to the daily cycle of preparing everything. The house burns to the ground except for one wall which is still able to give the date of the following day just like every morning.
In the beginning of the story, technology has rendered mankind totally unnecessary in the daily running of the house. For example “Tick-tock, seven o’clock, time to get up […]”(l.1 - 2), shows that the house automatically has an alarm clock which portrays that the humans are