Personification in “There Will Come Soft Rains”: Exploring Technology

Humanity's Evolution with Technology

In the poem There Will Come Soft Rains, by Sara Teasdale and the short story Videotape, by Don DeLillo, the authors include some similarities relating to humanity yet offer different perspectives on the matter. One offers an insight into what could be in the future without humanity, while the other shows that technology is already impacting the change in human culture and the way of life at its current development. Despite the remarkable benefits gained by technology, the dependency on technology should not be ignored.

It can have a harmful effect on humanity, as it has already begun.

From the beginning of time, the qualities of mankind that make them unique within the animal kingdom is intelligence. With that intelligence, humans were able to evolve their way of life. So much so that technology was later discovered and continues to be a part of the daily routine. Technology greatly influences what the future holds for mankind. Which in turn can also influence how humanity can be lost and the end of humans on planet Earth.

The Gaze of Technology in "Videotape"

At the start of the story Videotape, “It shows a man driving a car. It is the simplest sort of family video.” The narrator begins to tell the story from what seems like the perspective of someone watching a situation that was filmed unfold. The one who happens to be filming is a child that is “...aiming her camera through the rear window of the family car at the windshield of the car behind her.” At this very moment, the first few sentences help the reader to form certain feelings toward the story. The first character is now introduced and described as a twelve-year-old girl, yet her name is not given for “it is the kid’s own privacy.”  This gives the audience the impression that the narrator is watching this video on some sort of public media platform. DeLillo also gives the readers a hint of theme through the selective choice of words within the first paragraph. He states how kids get curious, “how the camera shows them that every subject is potentially charged”, catching millions of details a naked eye would not; he then goes on to say, “They learn to see things twice.” Which gives the audience an inkling of the theme involving the effects of technology.

The Struggles of Technological Progress

There has always been a debate about whether technology is good for humanity or whether it will be what destroys humans. Many people believe that modern technology is getting to an extreme level of advancement. Over the years, numerous technological objects have been invented and manufactured, like televisions, computers, film cameras, and even houses. Some of these gadgets do not exist anymore because of how advanced technology is becoming day by day. CD players, Video cameras, typewriters, pagers, and home phones are just a few devices that are not used anymore. Although some devices are in use today, an example would be the evolution of cell phones. Within the span of twenty years, cell phones alone went from being a brick-sized devices with buttons and a very visible antenna to a slime touch screen rectangular object that can fit quite easily into your pockets. The cell phone has advanced so much that other devices have been replaced by it. Cell phones can take videos, photos, phone calls, recordings, music, social platforms, etc. On the one hand, humans should adapt to technology because it has helped substantially to discover new things. It has helped medically and scientifically, but there are no limitations. Which, in turn, can be rather alarming. Technology can go from being very useful to scary. Not to the point of paranoia, but maybe obsession.

The Videotape shows the readers the dilemma of how a world with advanced technology can slowly take your humanity piece by piece. The recording starts as an innocent home video of a car ride but ends with a tragic murder of a middle-aged man being shot in his own car. DeLillo uses the word real throughout the story to emphasize that the situation at hand is not a play or film but a true witnessed event. “The things around you have a rehearsed and layered and cosmetic look.”  The narrator seems to suggest he has a daily schedule or routine, and so when something unexpected happens – like watching death on tv - it is a cultural shock. When it comes to death, many will question why they get fixated on it. Like the narrator in Videotape, “You don’t think of the tape as boring or interesting.

It is crude, it is blunt, it is relentless.” The same can be said about social media platforms. Whatever is viewed on social media will not affect the viewers as much as the person who filmed it because, at the end of the day, that person can detach themselves from that post. Yet they don’t because “seeing someone at the moment he dies, dying unexpectedly. This is the reason alone to stay fixed on the screen.” When the narrator calls his wife to watch the video with him, there’s a sense of suspense. He describes his reaction toward the video in amazement and states there is a hidden joke within the video, “…a note of cruel slapstick that you are willing to appreciate even if it makes you feel guilty.” And the audience watches the video because “they show it because it exists because they have to show it because this is why they’re out there, to provide our entertainment.” 

With technology vastly growing, resources are needed in order to produce and eliminate products. “Humanity’s annual demand in the natural world has consistently exceeded what the planet can renew in a year…” (Lobler 73) At the rate it is going, the Earth takes a year and a half to make up for the renewable resources used by humans with a year. It is also affecting the habitats of animals around the world. Lobler describes the relationship between humans and nature and how “We need a better conceptualization of our coexistence and our relationships with this planet.” He then continues to state, “Humans cannot survive if they disturb the resources they need. Conversely, the planet can survive without humans.” (74). Humans should find a more suitable way to live than to continue disrupting the Earth. Although the Earth does not need humans, humans need the resources the Earth provides in order to survive. If humans continue this way, there will be an unbalance between Earth and mankind. Humans must evolve in the care of the plant just as much as technology has advanced through time. Humans must not follow previous generations to be ignorant of the damage they’ve caused to the planet. There are still remains from the cold war eras.

Personification in "There Will Come Soft Rains" and Nature's Perspective

When There Come Soft Rains was written by Sara Teasdale during wartime, and it was published in the year 1920. In the early 1900s, there were many wars happening around the world. The war of most importance was World War 1, which took place a few years before the poem was published. Teasdale’s poem has a theme of nature vs. humanity throughout the literature. Personification, symbolism, and imagery are used to demonstrate the relationship between humans and nature. Teasdale talks of how beautiful nature is but also the ugliness of humans. She begins the poem, “There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground”, which gives the reader a sense of calmness and a hint of a new beginning. In the poem, Teasdale uses robins to symbolize good fortune and trees to symbolize life. “Not one will know of the war, not one” describes World War 1 being forgotten along with the damages it has caused nature. Teasdale states, “Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree, if mankind perished utterly;”. Nature will continue existing without the presence of mankind and will not miss them. As Kohlmann expressed, “The act of envisioning planetary futures without humanity made it possible to imagine a post-humanity even in the here and now.” 

Both poems and short stories represent the behaviors or ideas technology has taught humans throughout time. There will come a day when technology will be mankind’s downfall, and nature will take its course to continue on without the presence of humans.

Works Cited

1. DeLillo, Don. “Videotape.” Simon & Schuster, Inc. 1997. Pearson Learning Solutions, 2016, pp.75-80. Print
2. Kohlmann, Benjamin. What Is It Like to Be a Rat? Early Cold War Glimpses of the Post-Human. Taylor and Francis Online, Textual Practice, 2014. www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0950236X.2013.858066.
3. Lobler, Helge. Humans' Relationship to Nature - Framing Sustainable Marketing. The Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 31, no. 1, 2017. Pgs.73-78. ProQuest. https://tamiu.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.tamiu.idm.oclc.org/docview/1862041679?accountid=7081.
4. Teasdale, Sara. “There Will Come Soft Rains.” Public Domain Book, 1920. Edited by Robert Atwan, Beacon Press, 2003. Poets.org. https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/there-will-come-soft-rains

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