Monday, November 25, 2019

In " There Will Come Soft Rains", what does the radioactive glow represent, mean and indicate?

In Bradbury's short story "There Will Comes Soft Rains," he writes that the destroyed city gives off a radioactive glow at night that can be seen for miles. The significance of the radioactive glow indicates that the story is set in a post-apocalyptic world, where civilization has been destroyed by nuclear weapons. One of the main themes of the short story examines the relationship between humanity and technology and also reveals the dual nature of technology. The nuclear blast not only destroyed the entire city but has also eliminated the natural environment and all life forms. Therefore, the radioactive glow symbolizes the destructive power of technology, the ignorance of humanity, and also represents the toxic atmosphere of the post-apocalyptic world. In the wake of a nuclear explosion, only artificial life remains and is eventually destroyed by the natural elements.


"There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury is a post-apocalyptic story focusing on the aftermath of a nuclear war in which all human life has been destroyed. The radioactive glow is evidence that the world being described exists in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust and that all living beings have died. Thus the main function of the glow is that it is a very concise and efficient way of signalling to the reader the background situation of the story.
Next, radioactivity kills organic life but not machines, although machinery can be disrupted by the electromagnetic pulses associated with nuclear explosions. Thus the glow suggests that we are now in a world inhospitable to organic life forms. Thus it emphasizes that our technology is capable of eliminating humanity. The outdoors, normally pictured in literature as a wholesome scene of pastoral innocence, has become a toxic wasteland, not glowing under a benign sun but with a form of energy that is toxic to humanity. 

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