Foreshadowing In There Will Come Soft Rains

In concordance to the ideals conveyed by the literary works of science fiction and dystopian-themed texts, one common message that can be considered of great stance amongst such is that which declares: the ultimate destruction and doom of man, whether literal or philosophical, is one of a potentially self-inflicted nature, made possible to carry out through various, inconceivable factors. Such statements are indeed ones that are relatable, if not present already, in our current days, applicable to our modern world, and ones which can be held with the expectancy of further expanding into the cataclysmic circumstances foreshadowed by authors of such works.

1984, a dystopian novel by author George Orwell, elaborates on the idea of how the exaltation
There are two conjoining elements in this story that cause for this to happen: Man’s yearning for pleasure and his striving after greatness. In regards to pleasure, it is never enough, acting as a void within the hearts of all, constantly consuming itself in a manner where satisfaction always stands as unattainable. The house in Bradbury’s story, a character in itself that possesses some level of human sentience, is characterized by the text as, “an altar with ten thousand attendants, big, small, servicing, attending, in choirs”(3); Concerning humans and their roles in house’s daily course, the text reads, “But the gods had gone away, and the ritual of the religion continued senselessly, uselessly”(3). The contentment of humanity, according to Bradbury’s text, is something that can only be ascribed to that of the contentment of gods, something impossible to gratify; it is thus in that manner that self-inflicted destruction nears, for indeed the unsatisfiable pleasure within the common individual is a matter founded upon vanity, gluttony, laziness and self-absorption. An excessive amount of anything is of harm rather than good, and this is a concept equally applicable to pleasure without labor. These characteristics are undeniable in our daily lives; we possess a constant urge for instant gratification, from the foods we eat to the tasks of our daily course, both the great and small. This dooms humanity in the ideological sense where the arrogance of instant satisfaction blinds one from valuing hard work and efforts. In regards to man’s yearning for greatness, it is evident by the text’s setting that man’s weapons and innovative advancements for power have caused his immediate self-annihilation, as it is written, “At night the ruined city gave off a radioactive glow which could be seen for miles”(2). In