While scurrying water rats squeaked from the walls, pistolled theirwater, and ran for more. And the wall sprays let down showers of mechanical rain.
Motif: "Water rats" and "mechanical rain" again connect the technology with nature.
19 Matching Annotations
- Aug 2022
-
www.btboces.org www.btboces.org
-
-
Animals took shape: yellow giraffes, blue lions, pink antelopes, lilac panthers cavorting in crystalsubstance. The walls were glass. They looked out upon color and fantasy. Hidden films clockedthrough well-oiled sprockets, and the walls lived. The nursery floor was woven to resemble a crisp,cereal meadow. Over this ran aluminum roaches and iron crickets, and in the hot still air butterfliesof delicate red tissue wavered among the sharp aroma of animal spoors! There was the sound like agreat matted yellow hive of bees within a dark bellows, the lazy bumble of a purring lion. And therewas the patter of okapi feet and the murmur of a fresh jungle rain, like other hoofs, falling upon thesummer-starched grass. Now the walls dissolved into distances of parched grass, mile on mile, andwarm endless sky. The animals drew away into thorn brakes and water holes. It was the children'shour.
This nursery is very technical itself, but it represents a very natural scene, free from technology. I feel this is some kind of symbolism meant to show that in this technologically advanced work, nature is still seen as valuable and beautiful.
-
out as softly as blown gray leaves
Motif: The technology is similar to nature.
-
The dog frothed at the mouth, lying at the door, sniffing, its eyes turned to fire. It ran wildly incircles, biting at its tail, spun in a frenzy, and died
This could be foreshadowing what happens to the house.
-
tiny robot mice
This technology seems to be based of nature. The common occurrence of this suggests it might be a motif.
-
There Will Come Soft Rains
I feel the theme of this story is meant to outline some sort of struggle/conflict between mankind, technology and nature. Perhaps this story is meant to show that, despite similarities and origin, mankind will always be inferior to nature.
-
The house shuddered, oak bone on bone, its bared skeleton cringing from the heat, its wire, itsnerves revealed as if a surgeon had torn the skin off to let the red veins and capillaries quiver in thescalded air. Help, help! Fire! Run, run
The imagery and word choice here connects the structures of the house to that of the human body.
-
Today is August 5, 2026, today is August 5, 2026, today is..."
One of mankind's pieces of technology still remains.
-
But the fire was clever. It had sent flame outside the house, up through the attic to the pumps there.An explosion! The attic brain which directed the pumps was shattered into bronze shrapnel on thebeams.
The characterization of the fire and the house make this seem more like a fight between two people than a house fire.
-
The fire crackled up the stairs. It fed upon Picassos and Matisses in the upper halls, like delicacies,baking off the oily flesh, tenderly crisping the canvases into black shavings.Now the fire lay in beds, stood in windows, changed the colors of drapes
It seems as though the fire is now being personified and characterized a bit. It's like the fire is now, briefly, a resident of the house.
-
The wind blew. A falling tree
Nature is what destroys the house.
-
And Spring herself, when she woke at dawnWould scarcely know that we were gone
I believe this contributes to the theme, which seems to have something to do with the connection between mankind, its technology, and nature.
-
echoing.
(I only highlighted one word because I didn't want to highlight the whole first half of the page.) The house is very technologically advanced. It seems to be designed in a way so that it makes life for the residents as easy and efficient as possible. It does its job so well that it can perform without the residents actually being there.
-
Behind itwhirred angry mice, angry at having to pick up mud, angry at inconvenience.For not a leaf fragment blew under the door but what the wall panels flipped open and the copperscrap rats flashed swiftly out.
Again, nature is prevented from interacting with the house.
-
A dog whined, shivering, on the front porch
The dog might be shown here to represent a sort of connection between man and nature.
-
No, not even a bird must touch the house!
The house isn't allowing real nature to interact with it.
-
"Who goesthere? What's the password?" and, getting no answer from lonely foxes and whining cats, it hadshut up its windows and drawn shades in an old-maidenly preoccupation with self-protection whichbordered on a mechanical paranoia
The house starts to be characterized here. It seems to be portrayed as lonely and defensive. It's as though the house knows what has happened and that there is no family.
-
The house stood alone in a city of rubble andashes. This was the one house left standing. At night the ruined city gave off a radioactive glowwhich could be seen for miles.
More about the setting is revealed: this story takes place after some nuclear disaster has occurred. I feel this suggests that people have destroyed themselves as a result of their technological advancements, which might contribute to the theme.
-
Today is August 4, 2026,
This story was published May 6, 1950, so this story takes place in the future.
-