Long+Rain

The Long Rain **By: Ray Bradbury **

**Summary: ** "The Long Rain" is a science fiction story that takes place in the future, when humans have the ability to live on the planet Venus. It is a story in which a rocket ship and its crew crash land in the middle of nowhere, on Venus. Venus is home of the harshest rain ever recorded, a never ending rain, a rain that bleaches your skin, hair and even the vegetation around you. Things start off bad when two of the six crew members die from the impact onto Venus, and get worse when the crew realizes that they have to find and walk to a Sun Dome, which are like a safe havens, built on Venus. The crew walks, and walks, and walks, which is when the reader joins them, and the narrator reiterates the above information. With no food, no drinking water, and no sleep due to the rain, the crew is forced to rely on the leadership of the Lieutenant and his compass. Then things get even worse when the compass is thrown off by an electrical storm that is sweeping the surface of Venus, electrifying everything in its path. Driven bonkers by the rain, one of the crew members ignores the lieutenants orders to stay down and runs while the storm passes, he is incinerated almost instantly by the lightning. Now there are only three crew members left and they continue their search for a Sun Dome. The crew finally sees the yellow glow of a sun dome in the distance, only to have their hopes doused again (no pun intended). The Sun Dome has been deserted, doesn't have any food at all and has been torn apart by the Venusians. The venusians are the natives of Venus, dwellers of the single sea Venus has, they crawl out of it and destroy Sun Domes, knowing full well that if they get rid of the Sun Domes, they can get rid of us. In this deserted Sun Dome is where the one of the crew members loses his mind. The Lieutenant and the other crew member realize this, but are able to persuade him to keep walking, eventually the member demands sleep so they stop walking to camp, no one sleeps, and after four hours the crew member whose mind is long gone, gets up and runs into the night screaming. He is found but he is standing lifelessly, alive but head tilted back, with the intent of drowning himself, the other crew members shoot him, knowing it will be an easier death than the slow drowning of the rain. They start out again, in search of the next Sun Dome, within a couple miles of the Dome, the Lieutenants right hand man can not stand it anymore. He tells the Lieutenant to continue on, so he doesn't hear the sound of the gun that will soon take his life. The Lieutenant is now alone, and is beginning to lose hope. Everyone in his crew has had the sweet relief of death, why shouldn't he? Battling with his last strings of sanity, the Lieutenant sees a Sun Dome's glow off in the distance, he runs with what energy he has left and arrives at the Dome's door, bracing himself for the chance that this one too has been ruined by the Venusians. The door opens, the Lieutenants feels the warm embrace of the Dome's synthetic floating Sun, and the story ends.

**Setting:** The planet Venus in the future.

**Protagonist:** The Lieutenant, he leads his men after crash landing on the planet Venus, in search of a Sun Dome never giving up on them.

**Antagonist:** In //The Long Rain// the Lieutenant and his men were always in danger. Venus plays the antagonist role, with it's never ending rain, deadly wildlife, and the Venusians.

**Forms of Technology:** Human expansion into space, and a Sun Dome, which is a giant house with food, clean clothes, and entertainment. The Dome was warmed by a suspending ball of light that represented the sun.

**Main Conflict and Theme:** After crashing into Venus, the Lieutenant and his men must find a Sun Dome for and shelter from the never ending rain. The theme is man vs. himself because along the way everyone is driven crazy by the rain except for the Lieutenant who is able to withstand it long enough to make it to a Sun Dome.

1. Were the Venusians planning an attack on Earth? Why else would humans be stationed on a planet where it never stops raining? 2. If you were in the Lieutenants position would you have gone on without your men? 3. Would you be able to stand the rain? Or would you have gone crazy too?
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<span style="background-color: #c00702; color: #faac19; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 320%;">Mike JAMES Callahan

<span style="background-color: #0018ff; color: #ff0011; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 40px; line-height: 23px;">Lauren Alvermann