How does Ray Bradbury use imagery to make the house seem alive in "There Will Come Soft Rains?"

In “There Will Come Soft Rains,” Ray Bradbury uses personification to create images of a house that is a living, breathing entity. People no longer live in the house, but it continues with its daily routine as if it was alive. Bradbury describes the house waking up, making breakfast, and announcing the daily activities. The author provides visual and auditory images.

In the kitchen the breakfast stove gave a hissing sigh and ejected from its...

In “There Will Come Soft Rains,” Ray Bradbury uses personification to create images of a house that is a living, breathing entity. People no longer live in the house, but it continues with its daily routine as if it was alive. Bradbury describes the house waking up, making breakfast, and announcing the daily activities. The author provides visual and auditory images.

In the kitchen the breakfast stove gave a hissing sigh and ejected from its warm interior eight pieces of perfectly browned toast, eight eggs sunnyside up, sixteen slices of bacon, two coffees, and two cool glasses of milk.

As the story progresses, Bradbury gives the house a voice as it sings “Rain, rain, go away.” Throughout the day, the house performs the tasks of a home in 2026 that include watering the garden, quivering when a bird hits the window, and setting up for the evening bridge game. As the nighttime approaches, Bradbury has the home ready itself for bedtime before reading a poem to its former owner. The poem is a symbolic choice, which adds to the imagery. The poem, with the same name as the story, describes how nature continues its pace even during war, which is synonymous with the house existing until its “death.”