There Will Come Soft Rain Analysis

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Small Changes Drastic Effects Small changes now can have huge effects later. Think about that, is it true? Was there a time when it has happened? Ray Bradbury in “ There Will Come Soft Rains” and “A Sound of Thunder” depicts the drastic long lasting effects of small changes now, and also emphasizes how technology may be an easier choice but does not always have the best results. “There Will Come Soft Rains” after a nuclear fallout everything is gone except for a single house, a smart house. This house was programmed to do everything for people, cook their food, wake them up, do day to day things and keep humans on time, but there are no humans. This house was going about its day to day routine when a fire erupted in the house. The fire was…show more content…
In “There Will Come Soft Rains” there is a smart house, no people, or any signs of life, but a fire. These characters or lack thereof is the key to Ray Bradbury’s "takeaway" of the story. “In the living room the voice-clock sang, Tick-tock, seven o'clock, time to get up, time to get up, seven o'clock! as if it were afraid that nobody would. The morning house lay empty. The clock ticked on, repeating and repeating its sounds into the emptiness” (Bradbury 1). Unlike in “A Sound of Thunder” where there are a lot of characters Eckel, Mr. Travis are the main characters in this story. These characters have a constant back and forth argument on how one change now can affect the entire future even if you can not see it now. "Why?” asked Eckels”(Bradbury 3). Then Mr. Travis tries to explain why to Eckels."We don't want to change the Future. We don't belong here in the Past. The government doesn't like us here. We have to pay big graft to keep our franchise. A Time Machine is finicky business. Not knowing it, we might kill an important animal, a small bird, a roach, a flower even, thus destroying an important link in a growing species"(Bradbury 3). Here Mr. Travis tries to get across the importance of staying on the path. Both stories show that technology can change and affect a lot and is not…show more content…
Time travel is the whole foundation of Ray Bradbury’s point, a small change now can affect a lot later. Since we do not have time travel today we do not understand how it could affect anything, and like us the people in “A Sound of Thunder” the technology was still new and they did not know all of the after effects. "Christ isn't born yet," said Travis, "Moses has not gone to the mountains to talk with God. The Pyramids are still in the earth, waiting to be cut out and put up. Remember that. Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon, Hitler­ none of them exists." The man nodded.” (Bradbury 2). This shows the time travel element of technology by saying that there are none of these people alive so they went back in time. While “A Sound of Thunder” has time travel “There Will Come Soft Rains” uses an advanced house that is programmed to do all of the chores that humans do not have time for or do not want to do “Eight-one, tick-tock, eight-one o'clock, off to school, off to work, run, run, eight-one!” (Bradbury ). This is showing the element of technology by having the house on a time schedule and helping the humans with their daily life.These stories both show how much a little change can affect a lot therefore technology is not always the best

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