There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury: Literary Analysis
“There Will Come Soft Rains” Literary Response The story “There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury is set in the great future of 2026; about how in that area all of the humans were wiped out from a nuclear explosion and only one house was left. In the story personification was used to show loneliness in the house. Since the house wouldn’t be “lonely” personification gives the house a human feeling.
In the story it says “it had shut up its windows and drawn shades in an old-maidenly preoccupation” this shows that the house was like an old woman paranoid for her safety, which shows that the house was so to speak “lonely”. Another way the author uses personification to show that the house was lonely was when the author wrote “The house was altar with ten thousand attendants big, small, servicing, attending, in choirs, but the gods had gone away and the ritual of religion continued senselessly, usefully.” This is saying that the people in the house had been vaporized, although the house and programs that were set continued without concern. Most importantly Bradbury writes that “The front door recognized the dog voice and opened.” Meaning that the house knew it was their dog, and being “lonely” it let the dog in wanting some sort of company of what was left.
Overall the personification in this story portrayed the house as a literal person. The person the house was personified as was an overall extremely lonely “person”.
In the story it says “it had shut up its windows and drawn shades in an old-maidenly preoccupation” this shows that the house was like an old woman paranoid for her safety, which shows that the house was so to speak “lonely”. Another way the author uses personification to show that the house was lonely was when the author wrote “The house was altar with ten thousand attendants big, small, servicing, attending, in choirs, but the gods had gone away and the ritual of religion continued senselessly, usefully.” This is saying that the people in the house had been vaporized, although the house and programs that were set continued without concern. Most importantly Bradbury writes that “The front door recognized the dog voice and opened.” Meaning that the house knew it was their dog, and being “lonely” it let the dog in wanting some sort of company of what was left.
Overall the personification in this story portrayed the house as a literal person. The person the house was personified as was an overall extremely lonely “person”.