Introduction
There are a great number of ideas concerning the image of the future world as various writers made attempts to present their vision of the world as they imagine it to be in the future. Some authors introduce the happy world where all people can do whatever they want and enjoy their lives in a perfect society which lacks violence, crimes, and even minor misunderstandings. Though pessimistic author introduce the world of the future described after a certain war, their stories, as a rule, have a hero which tends to save the world. The story “August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains” (1950) written by Ray Bradbury introduces the author’s vision of the future events in the world to the readers.
Analysis of the Story
The story “August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains” starts with the voice of the electronic clock which announces the time and reminds the inhabitants of the house what to do: “Tick-tock, seven o’clock, time to get up, time to get up, seven o’clock!” (Bradbury 167). The clock can be considered an integral part of the story as it leads the readers all the way till the end of the day in the abandoned house. First announcements of the clock invite the family to have a breakfast, and then it reminds them to go to work and to school, and to do all the things they got used to do every morning at the same time.
The author describes household appliances as some pets or other living beings that are aimed at helping the inhabitants of the house to cope with their work in the house. Every tool, every device seems to be ready to be useful, they all are waiting when the members of the family would come and have their eggs and bacon with a glass of coffee or fresh milk. The house is full of movement, though the readers will further see that is empty.
The house is alive as it is an embodiment of life, energy, and movement, though it is not full of people or other living beings. People seem to have abandoned the house long time ago and now only a dog is rushing all over the house and searching for his master and children that used to play with him before, he “…ran upstairs, hysterically yelping to each door, at last realizing, as the house realized, that only silence was here” (Bradbury 168).. Where are they? Why did they abandon him in the empty house? The dog is the only thing that left and reminds the actual world about the previous one, about the family that was living here, and the children that were playing with the dog. Every detail suggests that the door would open and the children will run into the house and it will become full of noise produced by human beings instead of machines and different mechanic devices and tools.
The whole atmosphere of the house presupposes that the absence of people is a temporary phenomenon and everything is going to change in a moment when the house will become filled with people. However, Ray Bradbury drops the hints concerning the events that made the house look like it appears and denies the probability that the inhabitants would come because “The five spots of paint—the man, the woman, the children, the ball—remained” (Bradbury 168) on the west face of the house. This is where the readers can realize that the whole family died at once without suffering, without having a chance to say to everyone about their love and tenderness. The explosion was sudden and it took lives of millions, though it left the house.
Now we recall in our memory the phrase: “The house stood alone in a city of rubble and ashes. This was the one house left standing. At night the ruined city gave off a radioactive glow which could be seen for miles” (Bradbury 167). The radiation had ruined everything; no one was able to survive for the explosion was unexpected and brought a lot of destruction. The next radioactive glow caused the fire in the house and it was the end because all the measures taken by mechanic devices which were the only inhabitants of the empty house were not successful. The house was ruined completely. The last hope to survive was destroyed and this leaves no space for further discussion as there is nothing to discuss anymore.
Conclusion
Though the story does not give hope to the readers that everything could be well and people could live happily ever after, it cannot be considered purely pessimistic. The narration is based on movement and live which was a distinctive feature of the house when people lived there. However, the house remained full of energy even when the inhabitants had gone. It seems that the genuine presence of the family would change nothing in the daily life of the household appliances. The war influenced the house and the life in it but it did not influence the atmosphere of a certain timetable where everything happens according to the voice-clock.
Works Cited
Bradbury, Ray. “August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains.” The Martian Chronicles. Toronto: Bantam Books, 1985, 166-172.