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There Will Come Soft Rains Dystopian

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There are many similarities between science fiction and dystopian stories and at times it can be difficult to differentiate between the two. However, the futuristic, technologically advanced setting and the lack of a dystopian protagonist or rebellion proves which side this short story falls on. Bradbury’s There Will Come Soft Rains is a work of science fiction because of the setting and the characteristics of the protagonist and plot.
The setting of the short story pushes it heavily into the genre of science fiction. The story is set several decades after it was written with technology that was unheard of at the time. In the very beginning of the story the house says, “‘today is August 4, 2026...in the city of Allendale, California’” (Bradbury …show more content…

A key facet of a dystopia is a protagonist that realizes something is wrong with the society it lives in. In There Will Come Soft Rains, the protagonist is the house which does not fill the model of a typical dystopia protagonist. The house doesn’t realize anything is wrong during the story; it went about its typical routine even when “[it] stood alone in a city of rubble and ashes” (1) and “the ruined city gave off a radioactive glow” (1). This continues throughout the whole until the house has been destroyed by a fire but continues to repeat, “today is August 5, 2026” (4). A dystopian protagonist would have realized something was off in the society, but a science fiction protagonist does not necessarily have to come to this realization so the house fits better in the science fiction description. Another important part of a dystopia story is the protagonist leading or joining a rebellion. The house does not do this. Instead it just allows “the fire [to] burst the house and let it slam flat down, puffing out skirts of spark and smoke” (4) while going about its normal measures for dealing with a

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