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The clock is part of the machinery of the house, but it features so prominently that it is a character in its own right. The clock demonstrates a solicitous attitude—it is afraid no one will hear it—at the very beginning of the story when it announces 7:00 a.m. Its concern, combined with its state of being alone in the house, ingratiates the clock to the reader. However, as the day wears on, timestamps in the story calling out the hour suggest that the clock is more complicated than a lonely machine that misses its residents. As it continues to call out minutes and hours throughout the day, the house responds by initiating new activities. Through this dynamic between the clock and the house, readers discover that the clock wields great power over the house. It decides what , and when. When the house begins to die, readers learn that the clock has a strong attachment to this power. It continues to cry out the time, even though its words no longer initiate new activities. When, with its last words, the clock declares that a new day has started, readers see a pathetic figure reaching for power that has finally escaped its grasp. The clock reminds the reader of how quickly time passes. Its grim fate also clues the reader into what sort of future awaits someone who is constantly trying to control the world around them.
Clock Quotes in There Will Come Soft Rains
The There Will Come Soft Rains quotes below are all either spoken by Clock or refer to Clock. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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There Will Come Soft Rains Quotes
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!
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This is the opening passage of the short story, which begins by focusing on the clock’s point of view. It rings at 7 am, as it likely does every morning. However, the singsong alarm ringing through an empty house casts a shadow over the story’s opening. The reader can tell that something or someone is missing from the story because Bradbury notes, “The morning house lay empty.” This whole passage puts technology and control at the center of the narrative. Later, the clock will try to orchestrate everything that happens in the story. At first, the reader does not associate Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. O
In the last instant under the fire avalanche, other choruses, oblivious, could be heard announcing the time, playing music, 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.
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Here is a perfect storm of chaos. The machines in the house have all turned on and are going about their day as though the fire were not consuming the entire building. The clock announces the time. The music plays. The front door opens and closes. Controlling to the end, the house refuses to stop what it’s doing even in the face of death. The robot mice in particular seem willfully ignorant. They clearly understand that the fire is disastrous or they would not have gone to such great lengths earlier in the story to put it out. However, now Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut
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…”
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These are the very last words of Bradbury’s short story, in which the sun rises over a house reduced to rubble. One wall is standing, and within it the voice that controls the clock declares that a new day is dawning. The image calls to mind the Wailing Wall of Jerusalem. This historic site is the only part of the Jewish temple that was left standing when Romans sacked the city. It is called the Wailing Wall because people go there to pray and lament the fall of Jerusalem. The wall of this short story is similar in that it Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum
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Clock Character Timeline in There Will Come Soft Rains
The timeline below shows where the character Clock appears in There Will Come Soft Rains. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
There Will Come Soft Rains
At 7:00 am, the clock announces the time, singing relentlessly, “as if it were afraid” that nobody would get up....
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At 8:01, the clock announces that it is time to leave for school. The clock sings a song to...
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...sea.” The dirty dishes are submerged in hot water and come out “twinkling dry.” The clock announces 9:15, and a hoard of robot mice emerge from nooks and crannies of the...
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The clock announces that it is 2:00. “Delicately sensing decay at last,” the robot mice emerge and...
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...to cry out until the fire consumes them one by one. One plays music, another announces the time , still others scream. Machines without voices likewise go haywire. The front door keeps slamming...
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At dawn, as the sun rises over “heaped rubble and steam,” the clock cries out over the wreckage. It says, “Today is August 5, 2026, today is August...
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