A Comparison Of Bloodfall And There Will Come Soft Rains

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The world will inevitably end, but we cannot know for sure how it will end. We go through the scenarios in our heads and even entertain ourselves with the different scenarios in the form of movies, television shows, and books. Two short stories that depict two different scenarios are Ray Bradbury’s “There Will Come Soft Rains,” which depicts the aftermath of a nuclear bombing, and “Bloodfall” by TC Boyle, which spins a confusing tale of blood falling from the sky that keeps you thinking well after you have read it. “There Will Come Soft Rains” struck a chord in me that inspired realization and empathy. Meanwhile, “Bloodfall” had me on the edge of my seat, anxiously guessing what would happen next and constantly asking “why?”. When reading …show more content…

Furthermore, while the house is the main character of sorts in Bradbury’s work, it is not the only one. You can see the dog and the robot mice in there as well, who are used in much of the same capacity of the house. Though no words are spoken by any other character than the house, his description of their actions and the house’s commentary allows the reader to fill in the blanks and get a vague idea of what life used to look like. “A dog whined, shivering, on the front porch. The front door recognized the dog's voice and opened. The dog, once huge and fleshy, but now gone to bone and covered with sores, moved in and through the house, tracking mud. Behind it whirred angry mice, angry at having to pick up mud, angry at inconvenience.... The dog ran upstairs, hysterically yelping to each door, at last realizing, as the house realized, that only silence was here. It sniffed the air and scratched the kitchen door (Bradbury 2).” The reader can look at how the dog interacts with the house, as if it is familiar with it, and assume that the dog once belonged to the people who owned the house. Similarly, when looking at how the kitchen adds commentary, we get a sense of how life looked for the people who lived in it. For instance, it opens the garage door when it alerts the family it is time for work and school at eight-one, lights a cigar for the father at six o’clock, and reads a poem to the mother at nine-five (Bradbury). You see a schedule that is usually followed. But instead of the father smoking his cigar and the car leaving the garage, the house remains empty and silent, and, despite this, the house carries on its duty to the family. It makes you feel sorry for the house, wondering how long this had been going on and how long it would have

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