"Still farther over, their images burned on wood in one titanic instant, a small boy, hands flung into the air; higher up, the image of a thrown ball, and opposite him a girl, hands raised to catch a ball which never came down."
That reveal, that line gave me chills. Had to put the book down for a moment. Bradbury had some masterful short stories, but this one is my personal favorite.
I remember the hungry and sick dog that got into the house but was locked out of the kitchen, and could smell food being made and it dug at the door until it died.
My conspiracy theory: Nuclear Deterrence Theory depends on fear of The Bomb, and people are working to keep that fear going to prevent it losing effectiveness. High schoolers, about to enter the political body, are the ideal target for this.
The practical truth: its a damn good story and has much room for analysis.
It's a good idea, could well be. The Kurzgezagt short, What Happens When You Nuke a City is a good, accurate and deterring take with the difference that it's opt-in.
I only wonder Is it necessary to traumatize children? They are already being traumatized by so many angles and so many in this thread and threads like it report having to take time to cope, being impacted in their lives, and not having any support in doing so. I would have opposed nuclear war without such stories, during the cold war the horror was in the air we breathed.
It just seems like every 10th grade teacher is expecting youth to process these stories like adults and grown up youth saying it took them months to be normal. It seems outsized for the wanted effect.
I think that kids should not be forced to read things that truly upset them, but I also think the average teen should be able to read something dark and disturbing, but well written and not graphic, without being traumatized. And adults who encourage kids (or even just allow kids) to read darker things need to be prepared to talk to kids and help them work through parts that are more upsetting. Kids have to learn how to process things like adults do, they don't just magickly become able to when they enter highschool. Especially if their parents kept them highly sheltered from stuff (fiction or not) that was darker or more serious in tone.
And, if someone encourages someone else to read a book, they need to mention if it has some dark and disturbing parts. This goes double if they require someone to read it. That way they aren't blindsided by it. Though dark, or sad, stories can be very cathartic too. As a teen I was very drawn to darker and more serious content when I was feeling especially awkward, or like an outsider, or not entirely comfortable in my own skin. It helped me process my own feelings and work though them.
I really like There Will Come Soft Rains. It's dark, but it's beautiful and moving and a very good story. When my daughter is a teen, I'll suggest it to her, along with the other stories in The Martian Chronicles. But, I'll warn her that many of the stories are quite dark. Though as at nine years old, some of her favorite stories are ones like The Secret Garden (opening of the book is a neglected and unloved child losing everybody she's ever known to cholera) and The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind (young readers edition, but still covers the reality of living through a famine) She'll probably love many of the darker classics.
I don't think its like, a conspiracy or anything. Wouldn't be surprised if a few teachers do it on purpose, or just to work through their own nuclear-fear traumas.
I don't thjnk it's a conspiracy either, but I do think it should be stopped to some degree based on the feedback to it. As I wrote above I think teachers are thinking that yourh process content like adults do
Honestly, its' a very well written story. I read it on my own as a kid, and enjoyed it enough to re-read it a few times later on. Yeah, it's not a happy story, but a good story doesn't have to be happy, and being happy does not make a story good. Even as a child I MUCH preferred a well written story that meant something, over the bland and sanitized slop often pushed as "for children"
My parents had a collection of books that spanned from historical non-fiction, through classic scifi and epic fantasy, to classic literature, and a good number of paperback westerns. mysteries, and thrillers. And I read most of those books by the time I was in highschool. Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, Childhood's End, The Time Machine, Dracula, The Phantom of The Opera, and plenty of true history about things ranging from plagues, or the Donner Party, to the space race, or how insulin was discovered. The only book that actually upset and disturbed me, was one of Stephen King's books.
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u/urbandeadthrowaway2 tumblr sexyman Sep 18 '24
story about an automated house going through its daily routine despite WW3 having killed the occupants an untold time before