There will come soft rains
- This was the one house left standing; radioactive glow
- The five spots of paint—the man, the woman, the children, the ball—remained. The rest was a thin charcoaled layer.
- With self protection that bordered on mechanical paranoia.
- The ritual of religion had been continued senselessly, uselessly
- its bared skeleton cringing
- The dog ran “wildly in circles, biting its tail, spun in a frenzy and died”
- “regiment” “electrical wind” “psychopathic rate”
- “yellow giraffes, blue lions, pink antelopes, lilac panthers”
- “not one would mind, either bird not tree. If mankind perished utterly”
- At ten o’clock the house began to die. The house tried to save itself.
1) “Gods have gone away” is a metaphor showing the devotion of technology to its function. It religiously carries on its tasks. However, the idea that technology seemed to surpass humans is a symbol of the plight of humans in today’s world, where with the power of our minds, we are progressing relentlessly, heedless of the state of the world and of nature around us.
2) The menial tasks that the electronic objects perform depicts the witless development of technology that humans require it for simple tasks like opening doors, filling the bath with water, etc
3) It has human attributes; it “shuddered,” has “nerves,” and when it begins to fall apart in the heat of the fire, it is described as being “revealed as if a surgeon had torn the skin off.” It cries for “help,” it “[tries] to save itself,” but to no avail. Like the humans who are absent from this world, it must ultimately perish.
4) Title is ironic since there is no rain when it is needed
5) title signifies how the world will continue to turn and new days will continue to come, whether or not there are humans here to witness it
6) The house is a representation of mankind
7) Ambivalence is prevalent as although the writer creates an apparent disparity between humans and technology, it also bridges the gap between them by representing them both as perishable, and the multitude of instances where the house is personified draws a link between the two.
8)the world will continue to turn and new days will continue to come, whether or not there are humans here to witness it
9) The silhouette signifies the inevitability of the doom that humans have subjected upon themselves
prepIGCSE 