What you have identified is the importance of setting and
the imagery that is used to describe it in this important dystopian story that is almost
unique for having no actual characters whatsoever. I will have a look at the first
opening paragraph to analyse the imagery and see how Bradbury uses setting to convey his
message.
The story starts unforgettably by presenting us
with a future world which is supremely technologically
advanced:
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 mornign house lay
empty. The clock ticked on, repeating and repeating its sounds into the emptiness.
Seven-nine, breakfast time, seven-nine!In the kitchen the
breakfast stove gave a hissing sigh and ejected from its warm interior eight pieces of
perfectly browned toast, eight eggs sunnyside up, sixteen slices of bacon, two coffees,
and two cool glasses of
milk.
Clearly the extent to
which technology has advanced is incredibly impressive - literally there are robots to
do everything for you! However, as you read the rest of the story you begin to realise
what Bradbury is trying to aim at. With no human characters, this story is an ironic
reflection on the strengths and weaknesses of human nature. It is also a warning about
the limits and dangers of technology. The same technical wizardry that enables people of
the future to create a fully automated house is also responsible for the creation
of the nuclear weapons that destroy the human race. What use is all our cleverness and
ingenuity at having created a machine to make our breakfast for us, Bradbury seems to
ask, without the wisdom to accept our own vulnerable position in the
universe?
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