In paragraph 19, a dog approaches the house and is described as “[the dog] once huge and fleshy, but now gone to bone and covered with sores, moved in and through the house, tracking mud.” The comparison of the dog's former and present status creates a pitiful atmosphere, while “gone to the bone" insinuates the passage of time, implying that the dog had been starving for a long period. This invokes the readers curiosity, leading them to question why the house did not provide food to the dog when it let the dog in.

The next sentence reveals more about the house's 'personality', “Behind it whirred angry mice, angry at having to pick up mud, angry at inconvenience.” This gives the house a human-like personality, and further illustrates technology, in the form of clean-up mice, is angry at the dog’s intrusion as it desperately tries to get rid of the traces of mud and nature. The use of repetition to establish emphasis of the machines anger, sets a tone of mistrust. Although the house had let the dog it, it wasn’t a willing decision. The programming of the house had forced it to unwillingly accept the dog, further highlighting how the house despises nature, yet can do nothing but begrudgingly relent to its forces. Through the use of personification and repetition, Bradbury describes the fight between nature and technology.