Please help our discussion!!!

My sophomore literature class has been discussing the story "There Will Come Soft Rains," particularly the idea of whether machines literally feel emotion or only seem to express emotion. To quote from the story:

"The dog . . . moved in and through the house, tracking mud. Behind it whirred angry mice, angry at having to pick up mud, angry at inconvenience."

Our question is, did Bradbury intend to suggest that the mechanical mice literally felt angry, or that they showed the appearance of anger? (The operative words concern Bradbury's intention, not just the reader's personal opinion.)

Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated!

Hi, GoGremlins, and welcome to the board!

Some of us here will typically reply to questions like this with "tell us what YOU think", and then we will give our view. The reason we do this is to check that you have actually studied the text yourself, and aren't just coming here for an easy answer.

Anyway, my view is that you have to take the story as a whole. The power of the story, for me, comes from contrasting the real living beings who created the house with the artificial life form that is the house and its machines. The people are all gone, but the machines proceed as if nothing has happened. They are mechanical devices, nothing more, and their continuing to function is ironic.

Therefore - in my opinion - the mice can't really be angry. They're just machines. The give the impression of anger, just as they give the impression of caring about the people who used to live in the house.

If you share my view, you will now have to look at the text and try to find some evidence that this is Bradbury's intention. (Let's ignore for now the concept of the "intentional fallacy"...)

I agree with Phil. The mice can't be angry; they're just little gadgets.

However ... it's interesting that the mice are actually given motives, besides apparent emotions: they are angry because they have to pick up mud, and because of the inconvenience.

Yet they are uncaring, artificial devices who surely have no reasons or motives for everything. So what is going on here?

I know what I'd say, but I'll let it simmer for a bit before attempting to comment further.

Thanks for your opinions. I just read them to the class, and they were really impressed.

We actually have discussed this issue at some length, and I have told the students my opinion based on what I know of Bradbury.

I noticed that 34 people have read this thread, but only two have responded (thanks philnic and douglasSP!) What we're really after is a response from you folks who have read a great many of Bradbury's works and might be able to give some insight on what the author's intentions were in this case. So, anyone else have thoughts on this?

Pleased to hear you and a class have discussed the story and found it stimulating, GG!

I see there aren't any other replies, so I'll finish what I was saying. It's obvious that Bradbury is using personification to describe the mice, and that he even goes so far as to give them human motives.

The effect of this technique, I think, is to accentuate the very fact that humans - the creatures who do experience anger and have motives - are completely absent. And that, of course, leads us to imagine what must have happened to them. It's done by ironic understatement, rather than by attempting to describe the catastrophe directly.

GoGremlins, here is something you'll find interesting. Its a 1984 interview with Ray Bradbury. About 13 minutes into it he discusses "There Will Come Soft Rains".

http://www.enteringthemindseye.com/bradbury13.html

Right click and 'save as' where it says Bradbury Thirteen 1984 Bradbury on Bradbury. Its about 30 minutes long and just fantastic!

Thanks again, douglasSP!

Brother Tarkas, that interview was extremely enlightening, and confirmed my own view that Bradbury's extensive use of metaphor means that the comment about the mice was intended metaphorically, not literally. In the interview Bradbury said,

"The house is a metaphor for the family."

That answers our question, and also gives us a lot more to talk about!

Thanks so much, everyone.

ironic, i was just listening to this yesterday. he reads soft rains and marionettes inc.