"And the spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
would scarcely know that we were gone."
This quote from the cautionary tale "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury illustrates the fact that Man’s fragile presence on the earth will always cower before the awesome power of nature. Nature came before man, and nature will be there after man is gone. No matter what progress man makes, the simplest natural occurrence can throw off the fragile balance of man’s precarious world. This bold science fiction story contains almost humorous irony, personification, and chilling imagery. Ray Bradbury uses these three literary devices to show us how man will always be weaker than nature.
An image of a white silhouette of two children playing ball is burnt into the wall of the house. Perfect outlines of a woman and a man performing everyday tasks are etched in white residue on their former residence. These images from "There Will Come Soft Rains" demonstrate man destroying himself. Yet even weapons that can incinerate an entire family in an instant, have no lasting effects on nature. While the people are killed, the trees and grass remain. An image of a burning tree crashing down onto a house that all the brains of modern society worked to create shows man’s frailty. The house is utterly destroyed. This house, that represents the pinnacle of man’s technological genius is defeated by the simplest act of nature. The house that survived man’s destruction and kept on serving the occupants that were smeared on its outside wall was helpless to defend against nature’s most offhand whim. An image of a solitary clock’s voice emerging from the burnt ruins of the house at dawn provides a vivid illustration of man’s inability to defend themselves. This is the image that truly shows nature’s power over man. Nature is thriving all around these ruins. The birds are singing, the grass is green, the trees are blooming, the sun is rising. But this solitary robotic voice is all that is left of the epitome of man’s advancements. This image ends the story powerfully and completely. There are also a few twists to go along with the ending.
"There Will Come Soft Rains" is riddled with irony. Tragic twists that are almost laughable can be found throughout the story. Man can build a weapon that will destroy their entire race in an instant, yet they cannot build a weapon so potent as to overcome nature. The most powerful weapon created by man, cannot leave a scratch on nature. And after all of the work and toil that went into building this house that is so technologically advanced, what is it that finally destroys the house? Not the man made bomb, but a burning tree. Fire, a fundamental act of nature, destroys this house that was worked on so hard by the most advanced guest of nature on earth. After the fire wreaks havoc on the house, all that is left is a solitary clock, repeating the words "Today is April 29th, 1985. Today is April 29th, 1985. Today is…" This sole survivor of natures fury will itself eventually run out of batteries. With its batteries will die the last remnants of mankind. And nature is but a disinterested spectator as all of this unfolds. These ironic examples of how man is weaker than nature only help prove the fact that man will always be weaker than nature.
"The house was shuddering, oak bone on bone, the bared skeleton cringing from the heat, all the wires revealed as if a surgeon had torn the skin off to let the red veins quiver in the scalded air." The house is one of the many inanimate objects portrayed as a character in the story. In this scene, the house is seen as a person, burning in a fire and helpless to move or defend itself. The house is tortured while being held to the ground by its foundation. And inside, the robotic mice work furiously to put out the fire that is running rampant throughout its quivering structure. These constantly scurrying mice that squirt water onto the flames cannot help the house. The house is being portrayed as man, and the house is being demolished by an act of nature. "The fire crackled upstairs, ate paintings, lay hungrily in the beds! It devoured every room." The fire is personified as something alive that is truly hungry. It eats the entire house and is hungry for more. The house (man) is helpless to stop the fire (nature). This brilliant personification of inanimate objects demonstrates the struggle between man and nature. Man is fighting a losing battle.
Man’s endless futile struggle against nature is made to look even more futile in Ray Bradbury’s "There Will Come Soft Rains." Using logical explicit imagery, logical irony, and beautiful personification, Bradbury gets his message across very effectively. Using logical irony, explicit imagery, and brilliant personification, Ray Bradbury illustrates that man’s struggle against nature is in vain. He shows that man, no matter how advanced they become, will always be weaker than nature. |
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