Question

Referring closely to the short story, There Will Come Soft Rains, describe any four routine activities performed by the automated devices. Comment on their significance.

Write your answer in 100-150 words incorporating the following details.

• Description of any four activities
• Significance of the activities

Answer 1

In “There Will Come Soft Rains,” Ray Bradbury writes about a house that is fully automatic and does normal things even though no one is living there. There are four main things that happen: 

1. The voice-clock tells you the time and your chores, like “seven o’clock, time to get up,” which emphasizes how precise the house is.
2. The stove in the kitchen making breakfast such as toast, eggs, bacon, and coffee shows that the house can meet people’s needs. 
3. The robotic mice that clean the house by running out to get rid of dust and other junk show how self-sufficient the house is.
4. The yard sprinklers turning on at 10:30, watering the plants and keeping the outside in good shape, show that the house cares about its surroundings.

These tasks are important because they show how the house always sticks to its routine, even when no one is there. They show how much people depend on technology and how strange it is that robots will still be around after humans are gone. The house’s mechanical efficiency stands in stark contrast to the nothingness and destruction around it. This makes for a powerful reminder of how fragile humanity is and the lasting, yet pointless, effects of its actions. The routines, which used to have meaning, now show how empty the space they were supposed to fill is.