Their bodies incinerated, and all that remains are their white silhouettes on the side of the house. The father, mother, and two children were all engaged in regular occupations when an atomic bomb exploded. Death can come in “one titanic instant,” as it does for the McClellan family. When coupled with the unpredictability and finality of death, however, this obsession with controlling time appears both misguided and futile.īradbury depicts multiple instances of death to underscore that there is no way to control or subdue it. The ever-ticking clock announcing every hour suggests the McClellan family’s tendency towards efficiency and control down to the minute. Related to this relentless dying, Bradbury emphasizes the omnipresence of time, structuring the story around the house’s automated announcement of each hour of the day.
The reader encounters the death of the McClellan family, their dog, their city, and the house.
Set in a post-apocalyptic landscape, this story presents death as pervasive.
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