The Personification of The House in Ray Bradbury's There Will Come Soft Rains

In numerous literary works, the house holds a significant role, often portrayed as a vital element of the novel. Authors imbue houses with distinct characteristics, treating them as living beings with their own personalities and adding important plot events to captivate the reader's attention. Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains" is a prime example of a house taking on a central role in the narrative. This intelligent home continues to function even after the death of its inhabitants, making it a compelling character in the story.

"There Will Come Soft Rains" is a short story by Ray Bradbury that depicts a future in which the human race has been annihilated by a nuclear war. The house in the story is the lone survivor of the war, standing amidst a city that emits a radioactive glow at night (Bradbury). The story begins with a portrayal of a typical day in the life of this smart home, which would likely be commonplace in an era of significant technological advancements. However, as the story progresses, the daily routines begin to spiral out of control due to the absence of human occupants. The house becomes the sole character in the narrative, and Bradbury adeptly describes it as a fully fleshed-out person.

The author employs personification as a powerful literary technique to imbue the house with human traits. Personification serves as a complex tool to highlight issues in poetic texts (Sayakhan, 2019). In the story, it becomes evident that the house senses something is amiss and grows increasingly worried about every sound within its walls and beyond. Bradbury writes, "it had shut up its windows and drawn shades in an old-maidenly preoccupation with self-protection which bordered on a mechanical paranoia," effectively creating an atmosphere of anxiety and tension Bradbury, n.d. Paranoia is a distinctly human emotion, but when attributed to an inanimate object like the house, it feels entirely plausible. This is the point at which the reader begins to perceive the house as the primary protagonist.

However, a smart home cannot endure for long without its human inhabitants. Unexpectedly, a fire erupts in the house, serving as the climax of the story and ultimately leading to its complete destruction. Despite the assistance of advanced technologies in the form of unique robots, the house is unable to evade its inevitable demise. Bradbury emphasizes that the house does not merely catch fire; rather, it "began to die" at ten o'clock (Bradbury). Through this depiction, the author unequivocally demonstrates that this house is more than just a structure; it is a living organism.

In addition to delving into the emotional characteristics of the house, Bradbury also provides a vivid physical description. Instead of focusing on the disintegration of beams or walls, the author describes the demise of the intelligent home as a falling of "oak bone on bone," with a "skeleton cringing from the heat," and "nerves revealed as if a surgeon had torn the skin off to let the red veins and capillaries quiver in the scalded air". The house collapses, leaving behind nothing but smoke and ash.

In conclusion, Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains" presents the house as the central character in the narrative. Within this post-war setting, the author crafts a darkly ironic tale of an intelligent home's existence. Abandoned by its human occupants, the house meets an unexpected end through fire. Throughout the literary work, Bradbury portrays the house as a genuine person with its own experiences, emotions, and even components resembling the bones and ribs of a human body.

References

1. Bradbury, R. (n.d). There Will Come Soft Rains. Web.
2. Sayakhan, N. I. (2019). The use of personification and apostrophe as facilitators in teaching poetry. Journal of Language Studies, 1(4), 98-106. Web.