There Will Come Soft Rains Literary Devices

The unimportance of humanity’s absence due to technology, is described through Ray Bradbury’s ‘There Will Come Soft Rains.’ The short-story describes how as a result of a nuclear explosion, only one house filled with modern technology doing chores, jobs and other functions remains standing, while all other life including humanity is killed. In spite the fact that technology is all that remains, it carries out all required functions and consequently controls the society established by Ray Bradbury. Through several literary techniques, including similes, personification as well as symbolism, Bradbury reveals that modern technology will enable society to continually progress, despite whom or what is present, emphasising how humans are a useless

In the short story, this comparison is demonstrated when stated, “It had shut up its windows and drawn shades in an old maidenly preoccupation with self protection which bordered on mechanical paranoia”. The diction in "shut up windows' and "draw shades" depicts how advanced technology is. This therefore portrays how developed technology has gotten without the presence of human beings; specifically, this modernisation allows for technology to continue functioning without any sign of a struggle. Additionally, it shows how humans have been rendered useless by retaining no power nor any distinctive purpose in terms of jobs at home. Furthermore, the attribution of human traits to technology, such as it being on the verge of "paranoia", further builds upon the idea that technology has been developed to a stage where it does not need humans to function. Ultimately, it is not confined to human abilities but rather is capable of doing much more. Hence, personification describes how technology has human characteristics thereby reducing human existence to being insignificant. However, this isn't the only literary device shown through the short story to prove this specific

To prove that technology has the ability to take over society, Bradbury uses similes when stated, “There was the sound like a great matted yellow hive of bees within a dark bellows, the lazy bumble of a purring lion.” The simile makes it evident that technology is able to imitate sounds of animals and wildlife. While animals have very distinct sounds, as shown through the description of a “yellow hive of bees,” technology has reduced this to simply noises, to make it seem as if to makes it seem as if there is new life as a substitution for humans. The simile thus reinforces how developed technology is as it is able to create such a scene of wildlife and nature without actually having to be in contact with it. However, more importantly, without humanity present, it creates new life and simply fills the absence of humanity with even more technology, showing how useless humanity really is. To conclude, through having technology create artificial life in the absence of the human race, it is revealed that it retains the ability to keep functioning. This essentially underscores that the absence of other life is not important nor a struggle as technology ultimately controls the world Ray Bradbury