...Looking at both “seeking a friend for the end of the world” the film and “There will be Soft Rains” we can analyze them to see what they have in common as far as themes and how similar of apocalypse stories are they. Not in the surface but in between the lines. Both of these stories, are in my opinion very different, but at the same time very similar, they are both about an apocalypse that either is about to happen or already happened or is happening. To summarize them, I will write what the story is about so that you may understand what themes both these wonderful stories have in common. Seeking a friend for the end of the world is a wonderful film about a man that has found himself alone when the news comes that a comet big enough to destroy all of earth is only a month away from doing just that. He struggles to find someone that he thinks is fit to be that person and goes to several parties or gatherings of the end of the world, all while there finding no one that wants to just know someone else and make an emotional connection with him. Eventually he meets a much younger woman who is crying because she and her boyfriend broke up, she...
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...Thesis: The theme that in the midst of all the new technology advancements, nature is often overlooked or neglected, is revealed in Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains" through comparisons, personification, and description. Imagine a world without the use of electronics, fancy gadgets, or technology. A world where water does not come at the twist of a knob, communication is sent handwritten, and transportation is on foot. Today, we are in an age of the evolution of advanced technology. It is a basic necessity for someone to own a cell phone in today's society, as we rely so much on them for the most important tasks. In the short story, "There Will Come Soft Rains", it takes this idea to the extreme. The story takes place in the future, year of 2026, where a technologically advanced house can do almost everything for the family that lives in it. The city where this house stands was destroyed by a nuclear weapon, and nobody lives in the house. Yet, the house is undisturbed and follows along a strict schedule everyday, as if the family were still there,...
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...There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury – 1950 Questions: 1. What is missing from the story? What is thriving? 2. What is the main character? 3. Give examples of personification. Why does Bradbury use personification? What effect does it have on the reader? 4. Give examples of imagery. Why does Bradbury use imagery? What effect does it have on the reader? 5. Give an example of irony in the story. What is Bradbury’s message? How does irony get this message across? 6. Give an example of allusion. Why does Bradbury use this piece of writing? 7. What would you say is the theme of this story? 8. What other post-apocalyptic stories do you know? What does this remind you of? ideas • • • • • • • • • • • • • “Reckless folly of thoughtless technological development” Martian Chronicles – expansion to mars, wild-west like American Dream can equal misunderstandings and waste Ray Bradbury concerned with the loss of freedom of thought and the clash between individuality and a highly technological society Setting as a character. How is the house personified? The fire? Context – Hiroshima 1945, 1950s bomb shelters, Cold War 19471991, bomb drills, nuclear fallout shelters, nuclear devastation Russia, Cuba Contrast between the destruction of humanity and the survival of nature “altar” “ritual of religion” the poem – Sara Teasdale, nature will prevail without humans WALL-E Contrasts the beauty and eternity of nature with life that is subject to the technology and vulnerability of machines...
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...heme: Mankind’s own technology will lead to its downfall and self-destruction. By Waters of Babylon: The vision of the men destroying themselves. “I have been in the fights with the Forest People -- I have seen them die. But this was not like that. When god's war with gods, they use weapons we do not know. It was fire falling out of the sku and a mist that poisoned. It was the time of the Great Burning and the Destruction.” (P. 7 Last paragraph) Nightmare #3: Mankind built advanced machinery but craved to make them more efficient and as the machines were brought to life they started to rebel against the people that manufactured them. On line 17-20 it says, “The ones we’d built to be better than flesh and bone,” But the cars were in...
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...Duc Vo Heidi Kozlowski Eng1B 9/24/2013 THERE WILL COME SOFT RAINS “August 2026: There will come soft rains” is a short story by Ray Bradbury. The story is about a house equipped with extensive machinery to facilitate the delivery of any needs and performance of any activities that the owners could need. The story is set in the year of 2026 where advanced technological development conquers Earth. Therefore, the house is able to operate daily activities and maintain itself without assistance from other parties. The story begins in the early morning of 4th August 2026. It goes on to describe the different activities that usually go on in the house from morning to evening. There is clear specification of the duties that the house undertakes during this period. These activities include waking the occupants, making breakfast, cleaning and maintaining both the house and the compound among other duties. It is however important to note that the occupants of the house are not present throughout the story. It is also implied that these occupants had not been around for a long time and would not be coming back anytime soon. On the evening of 4th August 2026, the house is accidentally set on fire and burns to the ground by the next morning. The different machines try to clean up the mess but they are defeated by the raging fire which eventually leads to the destruction of everything inside the house, except for one wall. The setting of the story is distinctly...
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...In life things are constantly changing around us like technology, the people around us and how old we are. However, some things like the lessons learned in short stories like The Pedestrian and There Will Come Soft Rains both by Ray Bradbury will never go out of date. In The Pedestrian a man named Leonard Mead is out for a walk in the year 2053. He is only the only person outside walking, everyone else is inside watching tv, a police car notices this and pull him over because it looks suspicious. The car then proceeds to ask him questions and ends up taking him to The Psychiatric Center for Regressive Tendencies. In There Will Come Soft Rains the year 2026 and all humans are dead because of a nuclear war. However, an automated house lives on and continues to function, but one day a fiery tree falls on the house destroying it. Both these stories have an important message about technology and how it could negatively affect our lives. This important moral is especially relevant to today's world because of all the new technology we have. In The Pedestrian the reader can feel Leonard Mead`s loneliness and sadness as he is walking...
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...Man-kind has created an independent life away from nature, living on artificial intelligence and man-made power. Yet, this power could lead to the destruction of man-kind itself. In the story There Will Come Soft Rains, Ray Bradbury illustrates how man will not be able to contend with itself and nature, leaving nothing behind but nature alone. Throughout the story There Will Come Soft Rains, Ray Bradbury weaves the theme of man verses nature into the lines to show the fall of man when nature reclaims the world. Man-kind has taken much from nature to build technology and a world of their own to live in. In the story, everything in the house is automatic, the cleaning, the cooking, running a bath and even closing the blinds is done by artificial...
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...Author Ray Bradbury wrote stories about people and the way science and technology can benefit us in many ways, however – he seemed really afraid of the malevolent side where tech either turns on us or is used against us. In Bradbury’s short stories The Veldt, There will come soft rains, and The Murderer, they all have a common theme where technology has a very twisted way of intersecting with humans: a nightmare come to life, life-ending technology and resisting technology. Instead of writing about fantastic, futuristic scenarios, Bradbury creates world and characters that the reader can imagine living in and relating to – which makes their stories so scary. In The Veldt, the story is about the family’s relationship with each other and the way technology interferes with these relationships. For example, George and Lydia Hadley and their two children, Wendy and Peter, are all crippled by technology; they don’t function on their own any more. George and Lydia bought an expensive house that cooks, cleans and even ties their...
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...5/26/2014 Topics to be covered today: FHEL 1012 ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC STUDY Lecture 1 Critical Reading Skills 1 Barriers to Critical Thinking Making inferences and drawing conclusions Identifying themes and main ideas of texts 2 Aims of Lecture 1 The main goal is to develop in students the skills and the confidence to approach a piece of academic text, read it efficiently and critically, and extract main ideas and key details. But the goal of academic reading is more than just retrieve information. It is also the development of academic writing. Assessment for EAS Assignment 1 (Written) Assignment 2 (Presentation) Mid Term (Week 6 or 7) Final Exam 20% 15% 15% 50% 3 4 WHAT DO YOU FIRST SEE? 5 6 1 5/26/2014 7 8 WHAT DO YOU SEE AND BELIEVE? Seeing is not believing. An idea should be formed based on valid evidences and unbiased perception. However, other perceptions and interpretations are possible. Acceptance of other opinions. To think CRITICALLY! BARRIERS TO CRITICAL THINKING… 9 10 Barriers to Critical Thinking (Why do people find Critical Thinking so difficult? What prevents people from thinking critically?) 1. Egocentrism - inability to see other people’s viewpoint - focus on self: I, ME, MYSELF selfish 1. Egocentrism 2. Sociocentrism 3. Unwarranted Assumptions and Stereotyping 4. Relativistic Thinking 5. Wishful Thinking 11 12 2 5/26/2014 Two common forms of Egocentrism...
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...My Galley by Thomas Wyatt the Elder "A rain of tears, a cloud of dark disdain ", Sir Thomas Wyatt words in “My Galley”. Wyatt was a 16th-century English lyrical poet attributed to introducing the sonnet into English. Thomas Wyatt was born to Henry and Anne Wyatt at Allington Castle, near Maidstone, Kent, in 1503. Little is known of his childhood education. He was remarkably gifted man. His first court appearance was in 1516 as Sewer Extraordinary to Henry VIII. In 1516 he also entered St. John's College, University of Cambridge. Around 1520, when he was only seventeen years old, he married Lord Cobham's daughter Elizabeth Brooke. She bore him a son, Thomas Wyatt, the Younger, in 1521. He became popular at court, and carried out several foreign missions for King Henry VIII, and also served various offices at home. Wyatt’s “My Galley” is a sonnet typically ranges according to the tradition of Petrarchan. It has the same five rhymes a, b, c, d, e, and can be divided in two parts which is octave and sestet. The sonnet was written by Sir Thomas Wyatt in 1557 during the Renaissance Period in England. The subject matter of a poem can range from being funny to being sad. Wyatt uses of metaphor and imagery presented a quite pessimistic view. Wyatt is talking about despair, and probably means religious despair. It seems to me that he wrote about the 'sin' of losing your faith in God. He uses the common metaphor of a ship in trouble at sea. " ”My Galley” charged with forgetfulness...
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...There names are Antonio And Feli. 3) Parts of the Project: Once you have researched at least three stories, you need to begin the project. The project will require: Read the short story looking for: A summary of events Theme Important literary symbols Context Presentation on the author and the historical context of the story When was the author alive and where did s/he live? Was the story famous when the author published it? Or later? Two interesting facts about the author Was there anything important happening historically when the author was alive? Was the story written during a certain time period because the author was upset about something? Why did your group pick this story? Re-telling of the story in a modern setting Create a skit, short story, comic book, children’s book to retell your story in a modern context Keep the same theme, symbols, and basic plot, but you decide the characters and setting Ex: To start, try to think about a movie or book you really...
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...Vivaldi's Spring Concerto (within the “Four Seasons” set) is comprised of three movements, from allegro to largo and back to allegro. The first movement ends at roughly 3 minutes 15 seconds, followed by the second movement ending at about 5 minutes 35 seconds, and the third movement concluding the concerto at 9 minutes and 12 seconds. It is a violin concerto that has a tutti made up of multiple violins, violas, cellos, bass and harpsichord. From the first movement to the last it starts with a fairly basic ritornello form (excepting the free form of the second movement), falling back to the main theme every so often in repetition and carrying what is generally a homophonic texture. The dynamics are highly contrasting based upon the depth of the major/minor key. As the portion of the piece falls into either chord primarily, be it major or minor, it tends to increase in dynamics, boosting the intensity and directly influencing the mood. During the transition, there seems to be somewhat of a fall in dynamics, with a clever drop at certain points to inherently draw the focus of the listener, along with various crescendos and decrescendos leading up to and trailing away from roughly the mid-point and end of each movement. The beat varies throughout all three movements, typically quicker in the first and the last and more subdued and slowed in the second....
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... The ------------------------------------------------- Rolling Stone apparently gathered moss and failed. He was a master of the short story . He was an American story writer whose real name was William Sydney Porter.. ------------------------------------------------- Johnsy and Sue are artists who move into Greenwich Village in New York City.As winter approaches and the weather gets colder, Johnsy becomes ill with pneumonia. She gets so sick that she believes that when the last leaf falls from the vine outside her window , she will die. An old artist , named Behrman , who lives in the same building as the girls, braves a storm one night to paint a leaf on the wall – a leaf that will never fall.Cold and wet from painting in the icy rain , he catches pneumonia and dies. This gives Johnsy the hope to survive her illness , and it also creates the masterpiece Behrman had always dreamed of painting . Summary | Living in early 20th century Greenwich Village are two young women artists, Sue and Johnsy (familiar for Joanna). They met in May, six months previously, and decided to share a studio apartment. Stalking their artist colony in November is "Mr. Pneumonia." The story begins as Johnsy, near death from...
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...Tyler Gathercoal Written Assignment 2112 November 11, 2011 This seven movement “suite” as many people would describe it, is almost 21 minutes in duration. The song, 2112 (pronounced, twenty-one twelve), was written by the band, Rush. Rush is composed of three members; Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee, and Neil Peart. The band originated in Canada in the year 1974. They quickly moved to the United States where they became one of the most popular bands in their era. Alex plays the guitar, Geddy plays the keyboards and bass while singing, and Neil Peart plays his massive drum-set and writes the band’s lyrics. In 1976, Rush came out with their fourth album, 2112—this album is often referred to as “Rush’s break-through album”. This album might possibly feature Rush’s greatest song ever composed, 2112. This song is based in the year 2112, and takes place at “The Temples of Syrinx”, which is where many priests live their lives. These priests do not believe in individualism, they believe they are all equal. All the priests that live at this temple are banded together under the Red Star of the Solar Federation. One day, one of these priests finds a guitar. He learns to how to play this guitar and shows the other priests, even though guitars have been banished from the temple for decades. The high priest thinks the guitar is evil and that it had destroyed the older generations of mankind. The high priest destroys the guitar. The 2112 album cover is seen as a red pentagram with...
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...to plan your response so that each paragraph has its own unified idea. A sample paragraph structure might look like the following: 1. Introduction – Thesis: e.g.: “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is the first text which uses scientific experimentation as the basis of its plot. In doing this, it paved the way for all Science Fiction which followed…” 2. Body P1 – Author context + sub-genre features – what changes have occurred over time as a result of context? Consider Mary Shelley, H.G. Wells, Ray Bradbury 3. Body P2 – Discussion of Frankenstein 4. Body P3 – Discussion of other text e.g.: War of the Worlds (make some reference to Frankenstein as well) 5. Body P4 - Discussion of other text e.g.: There Will Come Soft Rains (make some reference to Frankenstein as well) 6. Body P5 – Relevance of Frankenstein today in a completely different context from that of its first publication 7. Conclusion – Look at legitimacy of the Science fiction sub-genre as the most enduring because it is about the future. e.g.: “Science Fiction has predicted many of the advances in technology that we have experienced, while also predicting the sometimes disastrous effects of...
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