Dennis Jeon

Professor Thompson

CWP-- Place and Perspective

14 February 2021

The house, good or evil?

The conflict between the protagonist and antagonist makes a story drive forward and is

often viewed as the center of many literary works. The existence of the protagonist serves as an

emotional bridge into the heart of the story. Usually, the protagonist elicits readers' emotions,

gravitating their feelings with sympathy, fear, and hope. However, in the story "There Will

Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury, the main character, a large empty yet alive house, is not the

protagonist but close to an antagonist. The house is embodied with complexity, and the readers

are confused about having to distinguish who or what is right and wrong, a battle between

opposite ends of a moral compass. In the story, it is easy to be misled as it seems like the house

is the protagonist and the fire that erupts is the antagonist; however, the story explores the nature

of good and evil in a much deeper sense through emotions like empathy and looking ahead to a

life dictated by technology.

First impressions are an important and underrated way in which people determine their

feeling about individuals and in the story, the reader finds themselves doing the same to the
house. At first glance, it seems like the house shows affectionate feelings by completing chores,

cooking, and working even though there is no reason to be doing so as the people have passed

away. The house shows its docile and pliant personality, hastily working without taking a break.

The reader begins to feel pity because this loyalty to routine despite loss is reminiscent of

grieving and not knowing how to move on when a loved one passes. For instance, the house

attempts to direct the family's every step. "Outside, the garage chimed and lifted its door to

reveal the waiting car. After a long wait, the door swung down again." It extremely difficult to

break a habit, especially for the house since the day-to-day tasks are all it knows and throughout

the grieving process, it can feel burdensome to change and adjust. Ditching the routine and

starting a new way of life can be compared to teaching an old dog a new trick, nearly impossible

to accomplish. Initially, this particular action suggests that the house is reminiscent of a maternal

figure who is nothing but forgiving and inviting. Ironically, this can all be interpreted as a house

that is indifferent to its owners' absence and is simply continuing business as though nothing

were wrong. The sudden contradiction causes the reader to no longer sympathize with the

initially perceived protagonist house. Instead, the reader now holds disdain for the house as it

shows no remorse for the tragic event that took place.

Indifference is a prominent theme within this story as there is a drastic juxtaposition that

is depicted. Specifically, the house highlights the relationship and the actions that were carried

out between the dog and the robot mice. The dog is the only living creature that appears on the

house's doorstep, shivering from the freezing cold. The dog was "once huge and fleshy, but now

gone to bone and covered with sores, moved in and through the house, tracking mud." The

descriptive language that Bradbury uses evokes an emotional response from the readers. Despite

the fact that the house only lets the dog in, of all animals, to potentially help it; there is still an
aura of negativity. However, instead of saving the dog, the mice were annoyed, "angry at having

to pick up mud, angry at inconvenience." Once again, the reader sympathizes with the living dog

rather than the main character that is the house. The mice have no regard for the dog's livelihood

and are more concerned with ridding the home of such nonsense instead of feeding the animal to

keep it alive. By the same token, the house uses imagery to draw a similar effect. The house asks,

"Who goes there? What's the password" to foxes and cats that pass by and "shut up its windows

and drawn shades in an old-maidenly preoccupation with self-protection" when there is no

answer. This closed and standoffish reaction is the complete opposite response that was given to

the dog. The dog was a previous inhabitant of the home which is why the house was more

inclined to let him in compared to the other animals, as the house then switches over to its

territorial instincts. The imagery of the house's reaction towards the animals shows its

hypersensitive nature, highlighting its indifference.

Emotive diction is a pivotal technique throughout the story to help emphasize the notion

of good and evil. In the last passage, the author explicitly describes the house's demise through

the use of emotive diction when saying, "The attic smashing into kitchen and parlour. The

parlour into cellar, cellar into sub-cellar. Deep freeze, armchair, film tapes, circuits, beds, and all

like skeletons thrown in a cluttered mound deep under." Despite the text written with plenty of

emotion, the reader still has no remorse or sympathy for the house's death and demise. Shrewd

and realistic observation of the objects in the house creates a dark atmosphere, conjuring up

thoughts, images, and confusion in the reader's mind. The reader shares no emotion with the

main character due to its emotionless, robotic-like state, and it is challenging for an individual to

create this longing connection. Just like how the house heartlessly got remove the dog, the reader

starts to resemble the heartless nature of the house by the end of the story. So much intentional
effort is placed upon characters that are supposed to draw the readers in, and this sad, banal

house simply had no glimmer of the possibility of tying the reader to its side. By the time the

story finishes with the house saying, “Today is August 5, 2026, today is August 5, 2026, today

is...", readers are exhausted with the house performing its house routine even the moment it is

dying.

The short story, ‘There will come soft rains’ reflects the voices of people in the mid-

twentieth century. With the rapid development of machinery and automation, there was a rising

concern that technology would outpace humankind. As much as people expected next-level

innovation through technology, the immense fear of technology took place as well. This

ultimately represents the idea of good and evil. Ironically, it is the human-like soul that Bradbury

instills into the house that makes the readers realize its inhumanity. The employment of various

literary techniques helps the author to voice on society, at last leaving the readers in confusion

whether the house was an antagonist or a tragic protagonist.