A Review of “There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury

What will happen to our machines after humanity is gone? Will our own technology, and our hubris, be the death of humanity?

These ideas are explored in the beautifully written “There Will Come Soft Rains,” by Ray Bradbury, which is based on a poem with the same title by Sara Teasdale, written in 1920. Bradbury’s story begins with an automated house waking up on the morning of August 4, 2026, amidst a barren, faintly glowing Allendale, California. Electronic voices ring throughout the empty house, as it prepares breakfast for occupants who will never return. The entire west face of the house is charred completely black, save for the stark white silhouettes of a man, a woman, two children, and a ball in the air, who were there one instant and gone the next. The house knows nothing of nuclear warfare as it draws baths, makes dinner, and reads poetry to its deceased occupants.

The influences of Bradbury’s time period are easily seen in his work. Bradbury wrote this short story in the 1950’s, while the U.S. was both recovering from World War II and anxiously engaged in the Cold War with the USSR (Elon). The world had seen the devastating potential of nuclear bombs in Japan, and many were bracing for impact as tensions rose between the United States and Russia. The thought of nuclear warfare being humanity’s eventual demise was a commonly held fear. Among the precise description of the house and its futuristic technologies, Bradbury includes eerie and accurate details regarding the aftermath of a nuclear explosion. The faint “radioactive glow” of the city of rubble is an image that one can easily picture, only to be struck by a sense of dread at the realization of what has happened there. The detail that is, in my opinion, the most uncanny, is the silhouettes of the family on the outside wall of the house. This phenomenon, dubbed the “Hiroshima Shadow,” is actually real (Sun). After the horrifying bombing in the city of Hiroshima, the silhouettes of people’s terrifying last moments were found burned onto walls and pavement. The nuclear flash of a bomb captures the shadow of anything blocking its path for a moment, before it is obliterated in nuclear fire. The image of the family in Bradbury’s story going about their daily lives – gardening, mowing the lawn, playing with a ball – and then being gone without warning, is hauntingly terrifying. At the time when this story was written, this horrifying scene exemplified readers’ biggest fear.

The sense of doom in Bradbury’s work, combined with his stunningly accurate predictions about the future of home technology, make this story a haunting and thought provoking read today. The automated kitchen cooking breakfast seems only a few steps forward from the “smart” fridges and automated coffee pots that are gaining popularity in suburban homes. As I read about the “voice-clock” in the walls of Bradbury’s fictional house, I thought of the Amazon Alexa sitting next to my computer. This technology, though fantastical in Bradbury’s time, is eerily similar to the most technologically advanced houses of our world now. The dread of humanity’s impending doom is no more inaccurate either. Between global warming, social justice issues, and political tension between world powers, it is hard to live in today’s society and not fear a Soft Rains-esque demise. 

Critics of Bradbury’s work claim that his idea is unoriginal (Ansbro, Goodreads). Certainly this is somewhat true, as many writers in Bradbury’s time wrote about the potential of nuclear warfare. Additionally, as seen in the poem that the story is centered around, the idea of the eventual downfall of humanity is not a concept Bradbury created either. Teasdale’s poem discusses the persistence of nature, and how the animals and the seasons would not notice if “mankind perished utterly” (Teasdale). However, Teasdale’s poem discusses this possibility with a glimmer of hope, an aspect that other critics find to be depressingly absent from Bradbury’s tale (Tadiana, Goodreads). Though these particular criticisms came from an open community review page, please consider that everyone is allowed to have an opinion on literature. I encourage you to visit the Goodreads forum and read other takes on this story.

I can’t say I disagree with these critiques. “There Will Come Soft Rains” is a haunting, beautifully written piece. The story includes startlingly accurate technological predictions, and a future which does not seem wholly unrealistic. The story is descriptive and engaging from beginning to end, and leaves the reader with much to think about. However, the idea of humanity’s demise from nuclear warfare has been written before, especially during the time when Bradbury published this story. Additionally, the future Bradbury portrays seems entirely hopeless. Even nature, even our surviving technology, seem to be struggling. The healing, everlasting presence of nature is absent from this piece. I would recommend this story because it is engaging and thought provoking, but do not go in expecting a happy ending.

Sources:

Multiple Contributors. “There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury.” Goodreads, Goodreads, 1 Jan. 2000, www.goodreads.com/book/show/2260460.There_Will_Come_Soft_Rains. 

McLaughlin, Pat.  A Literary Analysis of There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury. Elon University, elon.digication.com/a_literary_analysis_of_there_will_come_soft_rains/A_Literary_Analysis_of_There_Will_Come_Soft_Rains. 

Nixon, Tim. “The Shadows of Hiroshima: Haunting Imprints of People Killed by the Blast.” The Sun, 5 Apr. 2016, www.thesun.co.uk/archives/news/155844/the-shadows-of-hiroshima-haunting-imprints-of-people-killed-by-the-blast/.