Bradbury suggests in "There Will Come Soft Rains" within The Martian Chronicles that the human race will eventually meet its fate. And when it does, the universe will simply continue to rotate on its axis without suffering the slightest impact from it. Particularly relevant to 21st century audiences, Bradbury suggests that nature has a powerful ability to overwhelm humans and our impact on the world, despite all the industrial innovations that have revolutionized our civilization and despite all the technological achievements we may have achieved during our time. Earth. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay This particular chapter of Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles blatantly highlights humanity's struggle against omnipotent nature. Specifically, the automated home is indicative of this conflict: the home is a technologically advanced structure and can certainly be considered a modern achievement for humans. Bradbury strongly emphasizes how highly technological the structure is by freeing the setting from any human presence in the chapter. In doing so, he suggests that humanity thinks it is so intellectually inclined that it can design a machine that can function without the constant supervision of humans. However, even if man believes himself to be powerful through such mechanical innovations, the “intelligent” house is still not protected from the pouring rain (167). The house continues to get wet, suggesting that the laws of nature still limit man and his works. Metaphorically, the rain soaking the sides of the house is indicative of the natural ways of the universe that overwhelm or rather eclipse man's desire to leave an impact on the world during his existence. Bradbury then elaborates on this concept of man's disempowerment in the poem, "There Will Come Soft Rains", which he strategically inserted to directly follow the description of the rain as a new emphasis. In fact, this poem has a very great significance for The Martian Chronicles, clearly since it is the actual title of one of the novel's chapters. In this specific section Bradbury exclusively describes the automated home. To underline the high degree of technological advancement and capacity of the house, no human presence is described. The author does this to accentuate the extent to which humans can produce such highly mechanical systems, and despite such innovative feats, mechanics can never eclipse nature. At certain times the house behaves according to the expected program. For example, at 9:05 am the house was scheduled to conduct a poetry reading session. The selected literary piece was “There Will Come Soft Rains” (170). Bradbury incorporates a moment of foreshadowing here. This house, completely automated and programmed by human hands, begins to speak of the fall of man. In this way, he essentially predicts his own downfall as well as that of his creator. In particular, the last two stanzas state: “No one would care, neither bird nor tree, / If mankind should perish completely; / And spring itself, when it woke at dawn / would hardly know that we were far away” (170). Bradbury, once again, intentionally personifies nature to give it an authoritative and domineering quality over human beings. For example, "Spring" is capitalized, even though it usually isn't. This suggests that “spring” is a proper noun, and is similar to the way we capitalize names like “God.” Furthermore, Bradbury purposely states that the bird and the tree do notthey would “matter” if the human race were to disappear, as if they truly possessed brains capable of critical thinking (170). Bradbury endows all nature with an intelligent quality, to ultimately have his reader understand that we cannot outsmart nature. For example, in this modern era humanity has tried to build magnificent and strong buildings all over the world. All these structures built by human hands, however, will sooner or later deteriorate, no matter how robust the architectural foundations are. Our school library is a great example. The building was erected on a structurally sound plan which involved much artistic thought and technological assistance such as blueprints and bulldozers. Yet despite all our attempts to preserve it, it is still sinking. One day, inevitably, he will succumb to the earth, and when this happens, nature will be indifferent to him (171). Other structures that are clearly overwhelmed by nature include the Leaning Tower of Pisa and all the Greek ruins that have crumbled in recent centuries due to natural damage. These examples illustrate the inevitability of all man-made structures, as man can never outsmart or outlast the natural universe. Furthermore, every verse of “There Will Come Soft Rains” suggests the irrelevance of humanity. The first three stanzas are limited exclusively to natural representations: the environment and animals living in harmony with the world (170). This tone of serenity and agreement is then clearly in contrast with the concept of war, which is referred to in the fourth stanza. This global issue is associated with man; therefore, man causes destruction, and man himself is condemned to destruction. Describing the peaceful ways of nature while war consumes humanity, the poem suggests the indifference the natural world has towards man. This concept, so clearly highlighted in “There Will Come Soft Rains”, actually summarizes much of the cases described previously in the novel. For example, in “The Taxpayer,” a man begs to go to Mars because he fears that the Earth will soon inevitably erupt into an immense atomic war (32). Furthermore, the concept of nuclear war is also mentioned in “The Million Year Picnic,” as the characters themselves understand that war is highly destructive (174). By including the significant poem “There Will Come Soft Rains,” Bradbury shows that he is intensely interested in warning us of our own demise, which we bring about through the phenomenon of impending war: a war of man, a war unfit for nature. the poem is Bradbury's sudden transition to describing the burning house. The house begins to deteriorate due to the harsh natural conditions, as the fire engulfs it (170). In other words, this artificial structure begins to deteriorate, which suggests the deterioration of its creator, or rather of humanity. As Bradbury describes, "The house gave way as the fire in ten billion angry sparks moved with flaming ease from room to room and then up the stairs... And the spray on the walls dropped showers of mechanical rain" ( 171). Bradbury states that the house is giving way, suggesting how man will eventually give in to the powers of the natural universe. For example, all humans must die. We can try to resist our fate and we have attempted to do so through medical technology. Nowadays, many elderly people are supported at their age with pills, oxygen tanks and frequent check-ups with the doctor. Likewise, cancer patients, for example, nowadays have the opportunity to conquer their disease and live to old age only to be subjected to further drugs. Particularly relevant to the, 1977.
tags