What are the motifs in There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury?

Death and fear are recurring ideas in the story. By setting the story in a time of human extinction, Bradbury plays upon people's fear of death. He imagines the world without humans, telling readers that they have been reduced to shadow outlines on buildings. For those who have seen photographs of the atomic destruction that ended World War II, they are vivid and horrifying images.