There Will Come Soft Rains

Words: 580
Pages: 3

The setting in “There Will Come Soft Rains” is crucial to the story. Firstly, the story is set in Allendale, California. This location gives the reader the impression that the events of the story are realistic and could occur anywhere. Secondly, “There Will Come Soft Rains” takes place on August 4, 2026. This futuristic environment suggests that these events will possibly occur in real life if the world does not take deliberate action to secure a better future. Furthermore, the condition of the city (and likely the entire world) in “There Will Come Soft Rains” not completely clear; however, several clues are given. Firstly, the house is empty, and no people are anywhere in the story. Also, while describing the outside, the narrator said, “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” (2). This “radioactive glow” is clearly the residue of a nuclear war which must have taken place before the story. In “There Will Come Soft Rains,” Ray Bradbury establishes a setting full of purpose. This setting gives the reader both a feeling that the occurrences of the story could actually happen and that a focused change may be needed to prevent such events. In addition, …show more content…
The house has a voice which is heard throughout the story. Also, the narrator describes the house saying, “The house shuddered, oak bone on bone, its bared skeleton cringing from the heat, its wire, its nerves revealed as if a surgeon had torn the skin off to let the red veins and capillaries quiver in the scalded air” (6). Here, the narrator is clearly describing the house as if it were a person whose skin is being burned off by the fire. Ray Bradbury has no humans in the story, so he personifies the house as the central