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There Will Come Soft Rains

by Ray Bradbury

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Student Question

Who does the house speak to in "There Will Come Soft Rains"?

Quick answer:

The house in "There Will Come Soft Rains" speaks to no one, as all humans have perished in a nuclear apocalypse. Despite this, the automated house continues its programmed functions, originally meant for its human occupants. Its self-contained operation highlights the self-serving nature of technology, which persists even after its creators are gone. The house's words, once directed at a family, now resonate in an empty world, addressing only itself.

Expert Answers

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The automated house isn't really speaking to anyone, as there's no one left to speak to. In what appears to have been a nuclear apocalypse, every man, woman, and child has been wiped from the face of the earth. And yet technology, in the shape of the automated house, still lives on. It was technology, or to be more specific, its misuse, that was responsible for bringing about a nuclear holocaust. So it is entirely fitting that the automated house should have survived this gigantic catastrophe.

Even before armageddon arrived, however, the house wasn't addressing anyone in particular. Its robotic voice was programed to speak to the family who lived inside its walls, but its words could've applied to just about anyone.

The house was originally built to serve the interests of humans, but now that those humans are dead, its continued existence is determined purely by its programming. The suggestion here is that technology is ultimately self-serving, as it can carry on with its pre-programed functions for a certain length of time even after the humans who created it, and those it was supposed to serve are no longer in the picture.

In the aftermath of nuclear armageddon, the house is entirely self-contained, inhabiting its own little world. In the absence of any human life, its words are addressed to itself.

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