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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. When the fire travels outside and up the sides of the house, it is described as what?
2. In the section about the nursery, Bradbury mentions the "sprockets" in the walls. What are "sprockets"?
3. What happens at ten o'clock?
4. During the fire, what does Bradbury compare the house's dialogue to?
5. Who is the author of the poem that the house reads after dinner?
Short Essay Questions
1. In what way is the house's "speech" like nursery rhymes, and what is the purpose of this choice?
2. Explain what evidence there is that the house deliberately causes the dog's death.
3. Explain what is ironic about the rain in the nursery scenery.
4. What is the purpose of ending the story with the house fire? Why not just end it with the reading of the Teasdale poem?
5. The garbage disposal in the kitchen is referred to as a "metal throat." What techniques are at use here, and what is their purpose?
6. Explain the inclusion of the Sara Teasdale poem in this story.
7. What is ironic about Bradbury's use of rain in this story?
8. How do the cleaning mice allude to Cinderella, and what is the purpose of this allusion?
9. What are the poses of the people in their silhouettes on the side of the house, and why are they important to notice?
10. Describe the image that ends the story and explain its significance.
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Look again at the passage that begins with "The house was an altar with ten thousand attendants." What metaphor is being developed in this passage, and what is its meaning?
Essay Topic 2
The narrator of "There Will Come Soft Rains" is a very traditional third-person narrator, taking a removed and seemingly unbiased stance on the events of the story. But is that actually the case? What evidence do you see that the narrator actually does have an opinion about these events?
Essay Topic 3
Explain which details in "There Will Come Soft Rains" are explicitly taken from the history surrounding the dropping of the atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Offer a thesis about what these details are meant to accomplish and argue whether this is a successful strategy.
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This section contains 1,076 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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