There Will Come Soft Rains

There Will Come Soft Rains
Text Dependent Questions

Text-dependent Questions
Evidence-based Answers
What is the organizational structure of this story? What effect does the structure of the text create on
the story itself?
The organizational structure of this story is to build. Not knowing where the family is at first creates mystery.
This story follows a chronological structure. The voice clock, in italics, keeps listing the time as the
house goes through its day. The chronological structure creates an orderly effect at first, but as you
read on you realize things are out of order.
The story begins with the line, “In the living room, the voice clock sang…as if it were afraid nobody
would.” What literary device is Bradbury using? What is the effect of the author’s use of this literary
device?
The Author is using personification. This is significant because it helps the reader to understand
characterization and it also is a clue to the theme. It is evident from early in the story that there are no
human characters and through personification he makes the house the main character of the story.
What is ironic about the author’s description of the house as on a “mechanical paranoia”?
He describes the house as trying to protect from intruders when it hears the scurrying of otherwise
silent animals. When it gets no answer, it shuts itself up, trying to keep everything safe from the
outside. The reality is it could not protect against human’s own developed technology and that the
technology survived beyond the humans.
“The house was an altar with… but the gods had gone away, and the ritual of the religion continued
senselessly, uselessly.” What literary device is Bradbury using here and how does it contribute to the
message is he conveying?
Bradbury is using metaphor. He is comparing the relationship of the humans and the technology to
that of those who practice an organized religion. In this case, the humans were the main part,
programming and controlling the house until it acted without command. Now the humans are gone
and the house continues to follow their teachings without question, regardless of the fact that they
have been destroyed by the very technology they created and worshipped.
What point is Bradbury making by introducing the dog at this juncture in the story?
The dog makes its way through the waste and is frantically trying to find the family. The house keeps
working, not really realizing that the family is gone. This shows the vast difference between animal
instincts and the connection humans and animals have, to the connection humans have to the
technology. Whereas the house is being described as having human-like characteristics, but it does
not even realize the family is gone. It is mindlessly going through the tasks that it has been
programmed to do.
How does the author describe the nursery? What is significant about the way the nursery is
decorated?
It is a technologically created scene, set to reveal itself at a specific time of day. Suggesting that the
children in the house experience nature that is manipulated, as opposed to having authentic
experiences. The family even uses technology to create the fantastical element of nature using pink
and purple animals.
The house chooses a poem at random when no preference is given from Mrs. McClellan. Read the
poem. What is the theme of the poem and why does the author include it within the text?
This poem is about the effects of war. The world will move on and not even realize that mankind is
missing. The title of the story is the same as the first few words of the poem. The author is
connecting the theme of the relationship of man and the world and the destruction of war and its
connection to technology.
What is the significance of the repeated references to rain throughout the story?
Rain is an element of the other main character of the short story—nature. The sound of rain is heard
throughout the story. It shows up at the beginning as the weather box sings for the rain to go away.
Rain could have saved the house from fire but does not. The house was relying once again, on the
technology, but that water system failed, and there was no natural rain that night. Even though it had
been raining earlier that day and the house wanted that rain to go away. Ultimately, rain is part of
nature and cannot be controlled by technology.

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