Sunday, January 26, 2014

What would be the possible theme for "August 2026: there will come soft rains?"

In addition to--paraphrasing William Wordsworth--people's
laying waste to their lives with the overuse of technology, Ray Bradbury's short story
"There Will Come Soft Rains" has as it theme Nature vs. Science.  For, as the very title
suggests, despite the devastation caused by technology/science, Nature is a more
puissant force.  While humans have created such a thing as the atom bomb, capable of
great destruction, yet scientifically able to counter this destruction with a house
that resists destruction by a formidable bomb, fire, a natural force, is capable of
destroying this house.  And, in the end, even though the house is destroyed, the earth,
albeit charred, remains. Thus, Bradbury's story points to the folly of machines that
will overrule natures.

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