there will come soft rains - the thirsty bees · 2019-06-12 · world countries acquiring nuclear...

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There Will Come Soft Rains Ray Bradbury, 1950

SERIES: Learning from Nature Lesson 4

LESSON PLAN

Duration: 3-5 days Grades: 9-10

English, Social Studies, Science/Technology

LESSON SUMMARY

War, Technology, and The Natural World

And the winner is . . .?

NOTE TO TEACHERS

Smart phones, smart security systems, smart lighting, smart appliances, smart TVs, smart speakers, smart cameras, smart thermostats, smart cookware, smart vacuums, smart home and business automation, and smart cars. We now live in a very technological society where much of life is

experienced digitally rather than in person or outside. However, while most of these things exist for the purpose of making our lives easier and more efficient, humans often forget that they have also created smart bombs and smart weapons of war. There Will Come Soft Rains was written by Ray Bradbury 5 years after the end of WWII and 3 years after the start of the Cold War. After the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the USA’ s relationship with Russia turning from allies to enemies, the fear of the Earth being obliterated by nuclear bombs lasted for almost 50 years. Yet,

while the Cold War has officially ended, some news pundits insist the current War on Terror, 3rd world countries acquiring nuclear power, and even America’s current relationship with Russia puts the fate of the world in as much danger as ever before. Bradbury’s story, however, was inspired by

an even earlier work: the poem There Will Come Soft Rains written by Sara Teasdale in 1918, just after WWI. Both works address the issue of the extinction of humans. But, while Teasdale’s poem

ends with the rebirth of the Natural World, Bradbury’s story ends with the death of not only humans but of their technological creations (note the similarity to today’s “smart” technology) as

well – perhaps further supporting Teasdale’s vision of the future (ala Chernobyl?).

BIG IDEA A world without people? Yikes! Could it happen? Will it happen? If it does, will humans be

the cause or will the demise of humanity come from something else like a giant meteor crashing to Earth (hey, it happened to the dinosaurs . . .)? Will technology help us or make things worse? What will happen to the world if there are no people to run it and control it?

What does the future hold? What can humans do to ensure their survival?


COMMON CORE STANDARDS-BASED OBJECTIVES

ELA STANDARDS* • ELA RL.9-10.1: Students will cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of

what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. • ELA RL.9-10.2: Students will determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its

development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details.

• ELA RL.9-10.4: Students will determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices.

• ELA RL.9-10.7: Students will analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment.

• ELA W.9-10.1: Students will write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

• ELA W.9-10.4: Students will produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience.

• ELA W.9-10.6: Students will use technology, including the internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.

• ELA W.9-10.9: Students will draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

• ELA SL.9-10.1: Students will initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions . . . building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

• ELA SL.9-10.2: Students will integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse media or formats . . . evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source.

• ELA SL.9-10.4: Students will present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task.

• ELA L.9-10.3: Students will apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

• ELA L.9-10.4: Students will determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases.

• ELA L.9-10.5: Students will demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

NOTE: Many of the Common Core ELA Standards can also be found listed under the LITERACY IN HISTORY/SOCIAL STUDIES, SCIENCE, AND TECHNICAL SUBJECTS. For Science, Technical, and Social Studies Teachers – you may use either the ELA Standards listed above or, if necessary, the corresponding standards appropriate for your subject.


PROCEDURE

• Historical Context: Although this is primarily an ELA lesson, there is an opportunity for ELA, Social Studies, and Science teachers to collaborate and combine lessons and/or co-teach in order to provide students with strong background knowledge to help them better understand and appreciate the story. If this is not possible, ELA teachers can provide students with the “Soft Rains Background Knowledge Sheet” which summarizes the following, as relevant to the story:

o Summary of WWI o Summary of WWII o The Invention of Nuclear Weapons

§ Show students images of the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing: https://allthatsinteresting.com/hiroshima-aftermath-pictures#6

o The Advent of Nuclear Power for Energy o Summary of the Cold War o The Chernobyl Disaster (1986)

• PRETEACH VOCABULARY: warrens, radioactive, silhouette, titanic, preoccupation, paranoia,

regiments, spoors, bellows, okapi, tremulous, whims, shrapnel, sheathings, oblivious, sublime disregard

LESSON PROCEDURE

• Teacher-Facilitated Classroom Discussions: Refer to “Teacher Guide for Classroom Discussions” o Technology o “Big Idea” Questions

• Read Short Story • Short Story Analysis: Break students into 4 small groups or partners. Assign one section of the

“Story Analysis Worksheet” for each group to complete: o Literary Elements o Literary Devices o Compare/Contrast Poem and Short Story o Short Answer Questions

• When groups are finished, have them share their responses with the rest of the class and lead them in a discussion of the answers.

• Show students the Video: Chernobyl: inside the exclusion zone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khv87k68kIs

o Lead students in a discussion in which they compare what they saw in the video with the story and poem.

• For homework, assign the “Homework Essay” on page 4 of the “Story Analysis Worksheet.”


PROCEDURE (continued)

• LESSON WRAP UP: Lead students in a discussion that connects the story and poem to Real Life (refer to the “Teacher Guide for Classroom Discussions”)

o To recent/current events § The Fukushima Disaster (2011) § The War on Terror § American/Russian Relations § Current Countries of concern with Nuclear Capabilities: North Korea, India,

China, Iran/Iraq o To the future – is there hope for humanity?

§ Assign this question as Homework, with the option of having students share and discuss their answers on the following day.

• FINAL PRODUCTS and ASSESSMENT: For this assignment, students will be expected to work

collaboratively to discuss and share ideas (much of the assessment here will be formative while the teacher facilitates the discussions). They will also engage in short story and poem analysis, and a culminating Essay. While the Standards-Based Rubrics provided cover all the general standards associated with each of these, teachers may wish to develop more specific rubrics for each assignment or activity.

• The time allotted to complete this lesson is at the discretion of the teacher. Depending on how much needs to be pre-taught, how much is assigned as homework, and the levels/populations of the students, it is reasonable to expect the entire assignment to take 3-5 days to complete.


ASSESSMENT

The rubrics for the lesson are two versions of generic Common Core Standards-Based 3-point Rubrics – one simply provides feedback without assigning points or a grade; the other uses a 1-4 point scale

value that also includes feedback. Depending on your school’s grading policy, the population of your students, and the ranges of their needs and accommodations, you may use the rubrics as they are, or

you may choose to break down each standard into tasks more specifically targeted to each assignment or activity.

EXTENDED LEARNING IDEAS

• Possible Follow Up Videos: o Life After People (1:25:08): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyEUyqfrScU o What Would Happen if Humans Suddenly Disappeared? – a shortened version of Life

After People (9:46): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kibpn9UTGzA o Stephen Hawking’s 7 Predictions of Earth’s Demise in the Next 200 Years (11:00):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq9wipOftXw • Explore current television shows, movies, or games with apocalyptic themes and determine

how realistic their depictions of the future are.

FINAL NOTES

A good follow up story is Steven Vincent Benet’s By The Waters of Babylon (1937), an apocalyptic story – this time with human survivors – that nicely pairs with a cross-

curricular study of archeology and the fall/destruction of ancient civilizations.

ASSIGNMENT MATERIALS & RESOURCES

• There Will Come Soft Rains Story (as this story is not in the public domain, teachers will need to access it via their school)

• “Soft Rains Background Knowledge Reference Sheet” • Images of the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing: https://allthatsinteresting.com/hiroshima-

aftermath-pictures#6 • Teacher Guide for Classroom Discussions • VIDEO: Chernobyl: inside the exclusion zone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khv87k68kIs • Story Analysis Worksheet • Technology/Internet Access • Standards-Based Rubrics


BACKGROUND REFERENCE SHEET FOR THERE WILL COME SOFT RAINS • Summary of WWI

o Who was at war? § Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire vs. Great Britain,

France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan and the United States o What weapons were used?

§ Rifles, grenades, machine guns, aircraft, tanks, flamethrowers, chlorine and mustard gas, artillery, and explosive aerial bombs

• WWI was the first war where aircraft, machine guns, tanks, flamethrowers, and gas were used as weapons of war

o Where did the war take place? § Primarily Europe, Russia, and the Middle East, and a few colonies in Africa

o When was the war? § 1914-1918

o How did the war start/end? § WWI started when heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire Archduke Franz

Ferdinand and his wife were shot to death in Sarajevo, Bosnia on June 28, 1914 by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian Nationalist.

§ On November 4, 1918, Austria-Hungary, reached armistice because of an increase in nationalist movements within its population. On November 11, 1918, a discouraged German reached armistice, which was the official end of the war.

o Why did the war scare people? § How lethal the new weapons were § The number of people who died

• Summary of WWII o Who was at war?

§ Primarily The Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, Japan) vs. The Allied Powers (The United States, The United Kingdom, The Soviet Union, China)

o What weapons were used? § Much more technologically advanced versions of the weapons used in WWI

plus the V-2 Rocket, anti-aircraft guns, and nuclear weapons (two atomic bombs were dropped in Japan)

o Where did the war take place? § Europe, East Asia, the islands of the Pacific Ocean, and Alaska

o When was the war? § 1939-1945

o How did the war start/end? § The war started when Nazi Germany, under the leadership of Adolph Hitler,

invaded Poland and, when he refused to stop the invasion, Britain and France declared war on Germany. Other countries then began to choose sides.


§ The war ended after Hitler was defeated and died and after the United States dropped two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. At this point, the Axis powers surrendered to the Allies.

o Why did the war scare people? § The Nazis were responsible for the mass-murder holocaust of the Jews

(approximately 6 million were killed) and other peoples Adolph Hitler believed were inferior.

§ The advanced technology of the weapons made it easier to kill more people. § The nuclear bombs brought complete and utter devastation.

• The Invention of Nuclear Weapons o What are nuclear weapons?

§ Extremely powerful bombs that can destroy entire cities and millions of people in an instant.

o Why were they invented? § To destroy as many people as possible as quickly as possible § Fear – that the enemy had a similar weapon that they would be the first to

use o Why are they so dangerous?

§ They can kill mass amounts of people and structures instantly § The radiation will make any survivors very sick, to the point where they will

die a slow death. § Radioactive material remains in the ground for many years making it unsafe

to live even near where the bomb exploded. o Show students images of aftermath of Hiroshima bombing:

https://allthatsinteresting.com/hiroshima-aftermath-pictures#6 • The Advent of Nuclear Power for Energy

o Pros – it is a clean form of energy that only produces steam o Cons – it uses the same power as in nuclear bombs and any accident at a nuclear

power plant could be extremely dangerous and destructive (see: Chernobyl, 1986) • Summary of the Cold War

o Who was at war? § Primarily Russia and the United States

o What weapons were used? § Words – each side threatening to obliterate the other with nuclear weapons

o Where did the war take place? § Globally

o When was the war? § 1947-1991 with the peak of the war taking place from 1948-1953

o How did the war start/end? § The communism of Russia became a concern for Britain and The United

States, and their former alliance during WWI and WWII dissolved.


o Why did the war scare people? § Because people feared the next war would be a nuclear one involving many

nuclear weapons causing mass destruction across the world, and the potential end of mankind. People fully expected someone to set off the first nuclear bomb, which led to many people building bomb shelters and many schools practicing “duck and cover” drills.

• The Chernobyl Disaster (1986) o What happened?

§ During a safety test at the nuclear power plant in Pripyat, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union, there was a malfunction which led to a fire and explosion, and the subsequent release of nuclear radiation.

o Why did it happen? § The reactor had design flaws.

o What made it a “disaster”? § Many people became sick and died from the radiation, mostly from cancer

and thyroid conditions § The surrounding area (plants and water) became contaminated by the

radiation, and many animals became poisoned - either causing them to get sick and die, or resulting in mutations.

§ Many thousands of people had to be evacuated to avoid danger, but not immediately because there was a delay in notifying people of what happened

§ Radioactive material from the accident traveled into much of Europe and Russian, and as far north as Scotland and Finland

• STORY VOCABULARY:

o Warrens o Radioactive o Silhouette o Titanic o Preoccupation o Paranoia o Regiments o Spoors o Bellows o Okapi o Tremulous o Whims o Shrapnel o Sheathings o Oblivious o Sublime Disregard

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TEACHER GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM DISCUSSIONS

• DISCUSS TECHNOLOGY

o Smart Devices: their purpose is to make our lives easier and better § Smart phones, smart security systems, smart lighting, smart appliances,

smart TVs, smart speakers, smart cameras, smart thermostats, smart cookware, smart vacuums, smart home and business automation, and smart cars

o Alexa/Siri/Google Home: our current means of communicating orally with technology

§ If you are unfamiliar with these technologies, there are numerous videos on YouTube that demonstrate Alexa, Siri, and Google home, as well as fully automated homes and apartments.

o Student use of: § Education § Social Media § Games § Other?

• DISCUSS “BIG IDEA” QUESTIONS:

o A world without people - could it happen? Will it happen? o If it does, will humans be the cause or will the demise of humanity come from

something else like a giant meteor crashing to Earth (hey, it happened to the dinosaurs . . .)?

o Will technology help us or make things worse? o What will happen to the world if there are no people to run it and control it? o What does the future hold? o What can humans do to ensure their survival?

• LESSON WRAP UP DISCUSSION: Making Real Life Connections

o To recent/current events § The Fukushima Disaster (2011) – a nuclear disaster caused by Nature: an

Earthquake and Tsunami § The War on Terror – the world-wide fight to end terrorism § American/Russian Relations – could a new Cold War be starting? § Current Countries of concern with Nuclear Capabilities: North Korea, India,

China, Iran/Iraq – with more countries gaining access to nuclear weapons, should we be afraid of a nuclear war?

o To the future – is there hope for humanity? § Assign this question as an essay for Homework, and have students share and

discuss their answers on the following day.

There Will Come Soft Rains By: Ray Bradbury

In the living room the voice-clock sang, Tick-tock, seven o'clock, time to get up, time to get up, seven o 'clock! as if it were afraid that nobody would. The morning house lay empty. The clock ticked on, repeating and repeating its sounds into the emptiness. Seven-nine, breakfast time, seven-nine!

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

"Today is August 4, 2026," said a second voice from the kitchen ceiling, "in the city of Allendale, California." It repeated the date three times for memory's sake. "Today is Mr. Featherstone's birthday. Today is the anniversary of Tilita's marriage. Insurance is payable, as are the water, gas, and light bills."

Somewhere in the walls, relays clicked, memory tapes glided under electric eyes.

Eight-one, tick-tock, eight-one o'clock, off to school, off to work, run, run, eight-one! But no doors slammed, no carpets took the soft tread of rubber heels. It was raining outside. The weather box on the front door sang quietly: "Rain, rain, go away; umbrellas, raincoats for today..." And the rain tapped on the empty house, echoing.

Outside, the garage chimed and lifted its door to reveal the waiting car. After a long wait the door swung down again.

At eight-thirty the eggs were shriveled and the toast was like stone. An aluminum wedge scraped them into the sink, where hot water whirled them down a metal throat which digested and flushed them away to the distant sea. The dirty dishes were dropped into a hot washer and emerged twinkling dry.

Nine-fifteen, sang the clock, time to clean.

Out of warrens in the wall, tiny robot mice darted. The rooms were a crawl with the small cleaning animals, all rubber and metal. They thudded against chairs, whirling their moustached runners, kneading the rug nap, sucking gently at hidden dust. Then, like mysterious invaders, they popped into their burrows. Their pink electric eyes faded. The house was clean.

Ten o'clock. The sun came out from behind the rain. The house stood alone in a city of rubble and ashes. This was the one house left standing. At night the ruined city gave off a radioactive glow which could be seen for miles.

Ten-fifteen. The garden sprinklers whirled up in golden founts, filling the soft morning air with scatterings of brightness. The water pelted window panes, running down the charred west side

where the house had been burned, evenly free of its white paint. The entire west face of the house was black, save for five places. Here the silhouette in paint of a man mowing a lawn. Here, as in a photograph, a woman bent to pick flowers. Still farther over, their images burned on wood in one titanic instant, a small boy, hands flung into the air; higher up, the image of a thrown ball, and opposite him a girl, hands raised to catch a ball which never came down.

The five spots of paint - the man, the woman, the children, the ball - remained. The rest was a thin charcoaled layer.

The gentle sprinkler rain filled the garden with falling light.

Until this day, how well the house had kept its peace. How carefully it had inquired, "Who goes there? What's the password?" and, getting no answer from lonely foxes and whining cats, it had shut up its windows and drawn shades in an old-maidenly preoccupation with self-protection which bordered on a mechanical paranoia.

It quivered at each sound, the house did. If a sparrow brushed a window, the shade snapped up. The bird, startled, flew off! No, not even a bird must touch the house!

Twelve noon.

A dog whined, shivering, on the front porch.

The front door recognized the dog voice and opened. The dog, once huge and fleshy, but now gone to bone and covered with sores, moved in and through the house, tracking mud. Behind it whirred 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 copper scrap rats flashed swiftly out. The offending dust, hair, or paper, seized in miniature steel jaws, was raced back to the burrows. There, down tubes which fed into the cellar, it was dropped into the sighing vent of an incinerator which sat like evil Baal in a dark corner.

The dog ran upstairs, hysterically yelping to each door, at last realizing, as the house realized, that only silence was here.

It sniffed the air and scratched the kitchen door. Behind the door, the stove was making pancakes which filled the house with a rich baked odour and the scent of maple syrup.

The dog frothed at the mouth, lying at the door, sniffing, its eyes turned to fire. It ran wildly in circles, biting at its tail, spun in a frenzy, and died. It lay in the parlor for an hour.

Two o'clock, sang a voice.

Delicately sensing decay at last, the regiments of mice hummed out as softly as blown gray leaves in an electrical wind.

Two-fifteen.

The dog was gone.

In the cellar, the incinerator glowed suddenly and a whirl of sparks leaped up the chimney.

Two thirty-five.

Bridge tables sprouted from patio walls. Playing cards fluttered onto pads in a shower of pips. Martinis manifested on an oaken bench with egg-salad sandwiches. Music played.

But the tables were silent and the cards untouched.

At four o'clock the tables folded like great butterflies back through the paneled walls.

Four-thirty.

The nursery walls glowed.

Animals took shape: yellow giraffes, blue lions, pink antelopes, lilac panthers cavorting in crystal substance. The walls were glass. They looked out upon color and fantasy. Hidden films clocked through 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 butterflies of delicate red tissue wavered among the sharp aroma of animal spoors! There was the sound like a great matted yellow hive of bees within a dark bellows, the lazy bumble of a purring lion. And there was the patter of okapi feet and the murmur of a fresh jungle rain, like other hoofs, falling upon the summer-starched grass. Now the walls dissolved into distances of parched grass, mile on mile, and warm endless sky. The animals drew away into thorn brakes and water holes. It was the children's hour.

Five o'clock. The bath filled with clear hot water.

Six, seven, eight o'clock. The dinner dishes manipulated like magic tricks, and in the study a click. In the metal stand opposite the hearth where a fire now blazed up warmly, a cigar popped out, half an inch of soft gray ash on it, smoking, waiting.

Nine o'clock. The beds warmed their hidden circuits, for nights were cool here.

Nine-five. A voice spoke from the study ceiling: "Mrs. McClellan, which poem would you like this evening?" The house was silent.

The voice said at last, "Since you express no preference, I shall select a poem at random." Quiet music rose to back the voice. "Sara Teasdale. As I recall, your favourite...

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pools singing at night, And wild plum trees in tremulous white;

Robins will wear their feathery fire,

Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

And not one will know of the war, not one Will care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree, If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn Would scarcely know that we were gone."

The fire burned on the stone hearth and the cigar fell away into a mound of quiet ash on its tray. The empty chairs faced each other between the silent walls, and the music played.

At ten o'clock the house began to die.

The wind blew. A falling tree bough crashed through the kitchen window. Cleaning solvent, bottled, shattered over the stove. The room was ablaze in an instant!

"Fire!" screamed a voice. The house lights flashed, water pumps shot water from the ceilings. But the solvent spread on the linoleum, licking, eating, under the kitchen door, while the voices took it up in chorus: "Fire, fire, fire!"

The house tried to save itself. Doors sprang tightly shut, but the windows were broken by the heat and the wind blew and sucked upon the fire.

The house gave ground as the fire in ten billion angry sparks moved with flaming ease from room to room and then up the stairs. While scurrying water rats squeaked from the walls, pistoled their water, and ran for more. And the wall sprays let down showers of mechanical rain.

But too late. Somewhere, sighing, a pump shrugged to a stop. The quenching rain ceased. The reserve water supply which had filled baths and washed dishes for many quiet days was gone.

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!

And then, reinforcements. From attic trapdoors, blind robot faces peered down with faucet mouths gushing green chemical.

The fire backed off, as even an elephant must at the sight of a dead snake.

Now there were twenty snakes whipping over the floor, killing the fire with a clear cold venom of green froth.

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 the beams.

The fire rushed back into every closet and felt of the clothes hung there.

The house shuddered, oak bone on bone, its bared skeleton cringing from the heat, its wire, its nerves revealed as if a surgeon had torn the skin off to let the red veins and capillaries quiver in the scalded air. Help, help! Fire! Run, run! Heat snapped mirrors like the first brittle winter ice. And the voices wailed. Fire, fire, run, run, like a tragic nursery rhyme, a dozen voices, high, low, like children dying in a forest, alone, alone. And the voices fading as the wires popped their sheathings like hot chestnuts. One, two, three, four, five voices died.

In the nursery the jungle burned. Blue lions roared, purple giraffes bounded off. The panthers ran in circles, changing color, and ten million animals, running before the fire, vanished off toward a distant steaming river.... Ten more voices died.

In the last instant under the fire avalanche, other choruses, oblivious, could be heard announcing the time, cutting the lawn by remote-control mower, or setting an umbrella frantically out and in, the slamming and opening front door, a thousand things happening, like a clock shop when each clock strikes the hour insanely before or after the other, a scene of maniac confusion, yet unity; singing, screaming, a few last cleaning mice darting bravely out to carry the horrid ashes away! And one voice, with sublime disregard for the situation, read poetry aloud in the fiery study, until all the film spools burned, until all the wires withered and the circuits cracked.

The fire burst the house and let it slam flat down, puffing out skirts of spark and smoke.

In the kitchen, an instant before the rain of fire and timber, the stove could be seen making breakfasts at a psychopathic rate, ten dozen eggs, six loaves of toast, twenty dozen bacon strips, which, eaten by fire, started the stove working again, hysterically hissing!

The crash. The attic smashing into kitchen and parlour. The parlour into cellar, cellar into sub-cellar. Deep freeze, armchair, film tapes, circuits, beds, and all like skeletons thrown in a cluttered mound deep under.

Smoke and silence. A great quantity of smoke.

Dawn showed faintly in the east. Among the ruins, one wall stood alone. Within the wall, a last voice said, over and over again and again, even as the sun rose to shine upon the heaped rubble and steam:

"Today is August 5, 2026, today is August 5, 2026, today is..."

THERE WILL COME SOFT RAINS Story Analysis

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LITERARY ELEMENTS

Identify the Following

CHARACTERS

• Protagonist

• Antagonist

SETTING

PLOT

CONFLICT

POINT OF VIEW

THEME



LITERARY DEVICES Provide at Least One Example from the Story

PERSONIFICATION

METAPHOR

SIMILE

IMAGERY

ALLUSION

SYMBOLISM

EPIGRAPH

ALLITERATION

HYPERBOLE

ONOMATOPOEIA

OXYMORON

REPETITION



COMPARE/CONTRAST QUESTION BRADBURY’S STORY TEASDALE’S POEM

Which war influenced the author?

Is Nature depicted as positive or negative?

What happened to the humans?

What is the author’s vision of the future?

What is the overall mood/tone?



SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS

1. Why do you think Bradbury used Teasdale’s poem in the story and for his title?

2. The story describes a few survivors of the war as “lonely foxes and whining cats” as well as birds. But, the family dog, alive at first, dies. Why do you think the dog is not able to survive like the wild animals?

3. Rain is referred to often throughout the story (as well as in the titles). What is the significance of rain,

and why do you think so?

4. Note that the children’s nursery is an unrealistic depiction of Nature provided by technology. What does this suggest about the children’s interactions with the Natural World outside?

5. Why is the house unable to defeat the fire?

6. Why do you think Teasdale thought the natural world would continue without humans?

7. How does Bradbury’s 1950 vision of future technology compare to the technology we have today?

8. Do you think technology will eventually help humans live forever or cause them to be destroyed? Why

do you think so?

9. Do you think technology is helpful or hurtful to the Natural World? Why do you think so?

10. In both the story and the poems, it seems that not only humans are destroyed, but also everything humans created. Yet nature, it seems, lives on. What do you think will happen to the Earth if humans become extinct? Why?

HOMEWORK ESSAY

Is there hope for humanity in the future? Using details from history, the story and poem, and other resources, explain why you think yes or no.

Be prepared to share your answers in a class discussion tomorrow.


There Will Come Soft Rains, L4 Standards-Based Rubric A

Needs Improvement Meets the Standard Excels ELA RL.9-10.1: Students will cite

strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

ELA RL.9-10.2: Students will determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details.

ELA RL.9-10.4: Students will determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices.

ELA RL.9-10.7: Students will analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment.

ELA W.9-10.1: Students will write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

ELA W.9-10.4: Students will produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience.


Needs Improvement Meets the Standard Excels ELA W.9-10.6: Students will use

technology, including the internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.

ELA W.9-10.9: Students will draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

ELA SL.9-10.1: Students will initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions . . . building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

ELA SL.9-10.2: Students will integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse media or formats . . . evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source.

ELA SL.9-10.4: Students will present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task.


Needs Improvement Meets the Standard Excels ELA L.9-10.3: Students will apply

knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

ELA L.9-10.4: Students will determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases.

ELA L.9-10.5: Students will demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.


There Will Come Soft Rains, L4 Standards-Based Rubric B

Standard 1 2 3 4 Feedback ELA RL.9-10.1: Students will cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

ELA RL.9-10.2: Students will determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details.

ELA RL.9-10.4: Students will determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices.

ELA RL.9-10.7: Students will analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment.

ELA W.9-10.1: Students will write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

ELA W.9-10.4: Students will produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience.


Standard 1 2 3 4 Feedback ELA W.9-10.6: Students will use technology, including the internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.

ELA W.9-10.9: Students will draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

ELA SL.9-10.1: Students will initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions . . . building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

ELA SL.9-10.2: Students will integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse media or formats . . . evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source.

ELA SL.9-10.4: Students will present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task.


Standard 1 2 3 4 Feedback ELA L.9-10.3: Students will apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

ELA L.9-10.4: Students will determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases.

ELA L.9-10.5: Students will demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

there will come soft rains - the thirsty bees · 2019-06-12 · world countries acquiring nuclear...

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