Lost Within the Radioactive Glow
Answering questions with regards to Bradbury’s “August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains”
Comparing the past with the present, it is just astounding to identify how much have changed, how much everything has developed. Let’s consider these: from kalesa, we now have cars; from cellphones, we now have iPhones; from desktop PCs, we now have laptops, and the list goes on. Our advancement on technology still keeps on going and promises to blossom further. It is unmistakable that many more innovations are bound to come our way. Slash the term ‘impossible’ out when it comes to technology, humans can make almost everything now, whether red or blue, big or small, useful or not.
In Biology 1, we have watched this film entitled, “DNA: The Promise and The Price”. It is there mentioned that in nearly 50 years, scientists can decide for the future of human race through genetic science. By that time, it could be that the baby’s sex and eyes could be decided before he was conceived; in addition, his hair, the shape of his nose, and even his intelligence. With the example mentioned, I can say that “There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury is candidly realistic. There is no doubt that in the future, there could be a time, just like in the story, wherein a house could do all the household stuffs that was supposed to be human’s – making everything a lot more easier compared to what it used to be.
There Will Come Soft Rains is an infrequent sample of a story without any human beings engaging on it. However, upon seeing the spectacular ability of the house to manage on its own, I consider it as the central character of the story. The whole house is programmed to function on its own –from the alarm clock to the robotic mice, from the incinerator to the garden sprinkler, from the nursery walls and to some other parts of the house. One can notice how innovating this invention was, doing its household tasks well on time, automatically. Another is that, life on it still goes on, even if the world outside it is already demolished.
It is implied that the house was once inhabited by a family consisting of a man, a woman, a girl, and a boy but they are nowhere to be found. The proof of their existence can be seen on the west face of the house, wherein one can find their silhouettes in paint. Although it has not been stated completely, at that time in the story, it is hinted that human life on Earth was eradicated by some kind of explosion. The idea of the assumed explosion was established through the mention of “rubble and ashes”, “ruined city”, “west side where the house was burned evenly of its white paint”, and many more.
In the story, the one who triumphed was nature. Mankind perished without a sound –the inventions they made weren’t able to save them. What was supposed to keep them safe was the one that directed them towards their decline. And however ‘intelligent’ these inventions are as their masters, they were still incompetent against nature. Nature is still brighter, just like the fire devouring the house in the story.
In Sarah Teasdale’s poem “There Will Come Soft Rains”, it is denoted how nature can much more likely go on without us. The scene is like how everybody turned their backs on the drowning Icarus. No one seems to care. It may have heard our forsaken cry, may have seen our desperate cases, but for nature, it was just an insignificant failure of men. We suffer alone -just like Icarus drowning in the sea, just like the house consumed by flames situated amidst the ruined city.
Back with Bradbury’s story, it is evident that there’s too much technology present at that time because everything was prepared and done by the machines –that there’s no more room for human work. In fact, the story was able to push through without a human being present on it. Ray Bradbury wants to convey to us the danger that these novel technologies bring about by having the house and the whole city ruined by the explosion. Here, we can see technology literally abolishing human life.