Flashcards for There Will Come Soft Rains

The Automated House

The Automated House is the main "character" in Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains," acting as the protagonist, setting, and tragic figure all at once.

character

The Cleaning Mice

The Cleaning Mice are a group of small robotic devices integrated into the automated house in Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains."

character

The Dog

The Dog is a seemingly minor yet emotionally significant character in Ray Bradbury's short story There Will Come Soft Rains.

character

The McClellan Family

The McClellan family serves as the unseen yet ever-present focus of Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains."

character

“And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn / Would scarcely know that we were gone.”

These lines are taken from Sara Teasdale's poem "There Will Come Soft Rains" (1920), which Ray Bradbury included in his 1950 short story of the same name.

The automated house (reading Sara Teasdale's poem) · There Will Come Soft Rains (single-story narrative)

“Today is August 4, 2026, said a second voice from the kitchen ceiling, in the city of Allendale, California.”

This line is delivered by one of the automated voice systems in the high-tech smart house featured in Ray Bradbury's short story "There Will Come Soft Rains" (1950), which was later included in The Martian Chronicles.

Automated kitchen ceiling voice (the house)

“The house was an altar with ten thousand attendants, big, small, servicing, attending, in choirs.”

This line comes from Ray Bradbury's short story "There Will Come Soft Rains" (1950), which is part of The Martian Chronicles.

Omniscient Narrator

“The dog ran upstairs, hysterically yelping to each door, at last realizing, as the house realized, that only silence was here.”

This line is from Ray Bradbury's short story "There Will Come Soft Rains" (1950), which is part of The Martian Chronicles.

Narrator

“The entire west face of the house was black, save for five places.”

This haunting opening comes from Ray Bradbury's short story "There Will Come Soft Rains" (1950), part of The Martian Chronicles.

Narrator (omniscient) · August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains

“Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree, / If mankind perished utterly.”

This couplet comes from Sara Teasdale's 1920 poem "There Will Come Soft Rains," which Ray Bradbury included in his 1950 short story of the same name.

The automated house (reading Sara Teasdale's poem aloud)

“There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, / And swallows circling with their shimmering sound.”

These opening lines are from Sara Teasdale's poem "There Will Come Soft Rains," published in 1920, which Ray Bradbury later incorporated as the central theme of his 1950 short story of the same name.

Sara Teasdale (poet); read aloud by the automated house · There Will Come Soft Rains (poem, 1920; embedded in Bradbury's 1950 short story)

“At ten o'clock the house began to die.”

This chilling line comes from Ray Bradbury's short story "There Will Come Soft Rains" (1950), which is part of The Martian Chronicles.

Narrator · August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains

“The house stood alone in a city of rubble and ashes.”

This opening line is delivered by the omniscient narrator in Ray Bradbury's short story "There Will Come Soft Rains," published in 1950 as part of The Martian Chronicles.

Omniscient Narrator

“One wall paused to record five spots of paint—the man, the woman, the children, the ball.”

This line is from Ray Bradbury's short story "There Will Come Soft Rains" (1950), part of The Martian Chronicles.

Narrator

The Automated House

In Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains," the automated house symbolizes humanity's overconfidence in technology and the empty survival of civilization when humans are gone.

The Dog

In Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains," the dog represents the last trace of organic life and highlights how pointless technology is without humans.

The Fire

In Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains," the fire that destroys the automated house represents the indifferent power of nature reclaiming what technology has created.

The Sara Teasdale Poem

In Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains," the automated house recites Sara Teasdale's 1920 poem of the same name at 10 p.m. as part of its programmed routine.

The Silhouettes on the Wall

In Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains," the burned silhouettes on the west wall of the house serve as a chilling reminder of human absence and the devastation wrought by nuclear war.

Symbolism

In Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains," the automated house serves as a striking symbol of humanity's self-destructive arrogance.

Irony

In Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains," irony is woven through every level of the story, highlighting the contrast between the cheerful domestic efficiency of the automated house and the grim reality surrounding it.

Foreshadowing

In Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains," the house's mechanical routines serve as a form of foreshadowing, hinting at its inevitable downfall.

Imagery

In Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains," imagery drives the story, making the lack of human presence profoundly felt rather than simply mentioned.

Pathetic Fallacy

In Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains," the use of pathetic fallacy carries a deeply ironic twist: nature shows no signs of mourning for humanity.

Motif

In Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains," the relentless announcement of time serves as a central irony in the story.

Personification

In Ray Bradbury's story, personification drives the entire narrative: the automated house is given will, voice, and emotion to such an extent that the human family’s absence feels like a haunting, leaving the machine as the true presence.

Allusion

Bradbury's story draws its title and main theme from Sara Teasdale's 1920 poem of the same name, and this reference carries significant moral weight.

Tone

Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains" maintains a chillingly detached, clinical tone that turns the horror of nuclear destruction into something almost ordinary — and it's in that contrast that the story's dread resides.

paranoia

An overwhelming, irrational fear or suspicion that danger or harm is constantly present, even when no real threat exists.

noun · Chapter 1

silhouette

The dark outline or shadow-shape of a person or object left against a contrasting background, here burned permanently into a wall by intense heat.

noun · Chapter 1

radioactive

Emitting harmful invisible radiation as a result of nuclear decay; here describing the deadly fallout left after an atomic explosion.

adjective · Chapter 1

titanic

Enormous in scale or force, far beyond ordinary size or power, used here to emphasize the overwhelming destructive energy of the blast.

adjective · Chapter 1

oblivious

Completely unaware of or paying no attention to what is happening around it; here describing the automated house carrying on as though nothing has changed.

adjective · Chapter 1

sublime

Of such overwhelming greatness or beauty that it inspires awe; here used to describe the indifferent, almost majestic persistence of nature after human destruction.

adjective · Chapter 1

tremulous

Quivering or shaking slightly, as with nervousness or weakness; here describing a quality of sound or movement that is delicate and unsteady.

adjective · Chapter 1

regiment

A large, strictly organized military unit; here used figuratively to suggest the mechanical, soldier-like precision with which the house's automated devices carry out their tasks.

noun · Chapter 1

incinerator

A furnace or enclosed chamber designed to burn waste material completely to ash; here a built-in device the house uses to dispose of rubbish.

noun · Chapter 1

martini

A classic cocktail made with gin or vodka and vermouth; here prepared automatically by the house as part of its pre-programmed evening routine.

noun · Chapter 1

paranoid

Characterized by extreme, unfounded suspicion or fear of harm; here describing the house's hyper-vigilant sensors that treat any unknown presence as a potential threat.

adjective · Chapter 1

attic

The space directly under a roof, used here as the location from which the house's fire-fighting systems and stored materials operate or are housed.

noun · Chapter 1

bough

A large, main branch of a tree; an older, somewhat literary word used here in the poem recited by the house to evoke a natural, pastoral image.

noun · Chapter 1

whir

To make a continuous, soft buzzing or humming sound produced by something spinning or moving rapidly, like the mechanical mice or other automated devices in the house.

verb · Chapter 1

capering

Skipping or leaping about in a lively, playful way; here describing the frantic, erratic movements of the robotic mice as they rush about cleaning.

verb · Chapter 1