There Will Come Soft Rains Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury 1920 – 2012 Born in Illinois, Bradbury had a great imagination As a child, he often had nightmares and dreams which he used as ideas for some of his stories

His Life Bradbury began publishing work in high school He first published in sci-fi and detective magazines; soon, his work was accepted in “main stream” magazines He met many famous people from Hollywood, and enjoyed film and plays

Bradbury was married once, and had four daughters He was raised a Baptist, but refused to allow anyone to label his beliefs He attributed his writing skills as a gift from God, for which he was very grateful He was close friends with Star Trek’s Gene Roddenbury Bradbury died in 2012 after a long illness; he was 91

His Work He resisted being labeled a science fiction writer; he felt that his work was more fantasy He was not interested in just shocking the reader; he wanted them to see what the future might hold He wrote about censorship, pollution, racism, and nuclear war He is known as “a writer with a conscience”

He wrote many plays as he loved the theater He was an avid supporter of libraries; he did not have the money for a college education and said that “libraries educated” him Several of his stories were adapted for Alfred Hitchcock He hosted his own television show from 1985 – 1992 which presented 65 of his stories

There Will Come Soft Rains, page 199

Background Written in 1950, just 5 years after the nuclear bomb was used in Japan The Cold War followed, and the Russians soon had their own weapons He is warning us of the possible problems we can face if we are not careful with our knowledge

Class Work Read the story in class Literary Critique, pages 202 – 203, #s 1-3 and 5-8 Writing Workshop, page 203 Complete a close reading of the story