There Will Come Soft Rains Personification

The Battle of Nature and Technology Ray Bradbury’s distrust of technology is clear in his short story “There Will Come Soft Rains.” Written in 1950 and with World War II fresh on his mind, Bradbury knew that the possibility of a nuclear war was a reality. According to author Donna Haisty, “In Bradbury’s prophetic look at the future of modern society, human beings by the year 2026 have advanced to the point where they can control their material realm, but they cannot control their own destructive tendencies” (3). Bradbury uses personification and science fiction to show and magnify human conditions to his main character, the house, and to prove how nature will always defeat technology. The story opens with no explanation or information about the story or any characters. The reader later discovers that there are no people in this story, and in fact, there is nothing else left of the city of Allendale, with the exception of a house and a dog. The narrator tells us, “The house stood alone in a city of rubble and ashes. This was the one house left standing. At night the ruined city gave off a radioactive glow which could be seen for miles” (1). At this point, the reader can conclude that a nuclear bomb has destroyed everything and everyone. However, a dog is

Bradbury uses personification and imagery to create a vivid image of yellow giraffes, blue lions, and pink antelopes running along the walls of the nursery (2). The narrator tells us that, “The nursery floor was woven to resemble a crisp, cereal meadow. Over this ran aluminum roaches and iron crickets, and in the hot still air butterflies of delicate red tissue wavered among the sharp aroma of animal spoors!” (2). Here, we see a paradox of nature being used in this technologically advanced home. The irony is that humans destroy jungles and forests to create more technology, but they use technology to recreate the things they