Significance of the Title :
Question : What is the significance of the title of the story ?
Answer: The title of the story “There will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury is borrowed from Sara Teasdale’s poem of the same title, which was written during the First World War of 1914 – 18. The poem is an optimistic poem which describes a beautiful country scene in a post – apocalyptic world where mankind no longer exists. The poem which is also included in the story highlights the idea that nature will outlast humanity and continue to thrive even human civilisations have been destroyed.
By using this poem’s title, Bradbury brings out his criticism of heedless advancement made in science and technology which ultimately leads to wrecking devastating destruction of humankind. The poem is used to emphasise the theme of technology versus nature in the story.
The story depict the last day in the life of a house which is a marvel of automation and technology. The story imagines the futuristic time period of August 2026, in Allendale, California, when technology is developed to such an extent that all the household chores are done with the help of mechanical labour saving devices. But ironically, the same technology has also destroyed the human civilisation. The nuclear radiation hangs in the city, but the house which is the main protagonist of the story, still lives in mechanical form and performs all its functions mindless of the fact that the human inhabitants are all perished away.
It looks quite amusing that using advance technology, humans made nuclear bomb, to wipe each other from the face of the earth, and a mechanical voice read them the poem about how happy nature will be when man has destroyed himself.
Bradbury was deeply concerned with how various kinds of technology were dehumanising human life or replacing people.
In both the poem and story, we are presented with a world in which mankind is absent and things go on as usual.
In the poem, life continues in its natural diurnal course. And in the Bradbury story, similarly and ironically, the man made house continues to live and react in man’s absence. Bradbury use this poem to remind us that we are not really that important – life on Earth will continue without us if we are so stupid as to make ourselves extinct. We would not be missed by anyone, not by the birds, or the frogs nor the things we have made for our pride and shelter or convenience and our comfort.
Bradbury, includes the poem in his story to foreshadows the story’s conclusion, which is that nature will continue and heal itself even after the house is destroyed by fire.
The house which is continued to survive and function even after the nuclear explosion has destroyed everything in the city. The most powerful man – made devices of them all, the atomic bomb, is dwarfed by hardy persistence of nature. All it takes is a gust of wind to start a fire and the marvel of technology, the house is completely destroyed in the end. The elemental forces of nature like fire overwhelm man’s proud inventions and discoveries and technological developments.
The author has in mind a time when we will not allow our advances in science and technology to do the ugly job of destruction. Nature will regain its primary and important role as a healing power. This is aptly conveyed through the title of the story “There will Come Soft Rains”.