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What are the metaphors in the story by Ray Bradbury,"There Will Come Soft Rains?"

Ray Bradbury's short story "There Will Come Soft Rains," is filled with figurative language. The most prevalent form of figurative language in this story is personification, followed by simile. There are a few metaphors in this story, as well. Metaphors compare two unlike things without using like or as, which distinguishes them from similes. 


One of the metaphors compares the house to a great altar. Here is the quote: 



"The house was an altar with ten thousand attendants, big, small, servicing, attending, in choirs. But the gods had gone away, and the ritual of the religion continued senselessly, uselessly." 



The inhabitants of the house are compared to gods in this metaphor. They are the ones who have gone away. The rituals of the house are compared to religious rituals. Religious rituals are man's attempt to gain access to a god or gods. The house cooks breakfast, gives announcements, prepares baths and entertainment. It is all useless, however, without the family to receive the service. The attendants can't access the gods. The altar, or house, remains empty.  


Another metaphor occurs when the house catches on fire. The house is designed to spray a green chemical to stop fires when they are detected. A metaphor is used to describe this: "Now there were twenty snakes whipping over the floor, killing the fire with a clear cold venom of green froth."


The snakes are the hoses which spout the green fire retardant. The chemical is compared to venom, as it attacks the fire, much as a snake attacks an enemy.  

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