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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 1: "There Will Come Soft Rains".

Multiple Choice Questions

1. "The house tried to save itself" is an example of which technique?
(a) Paradox.
(b) Onomatopoeia.
(c) Personification.
(d) Alliteration.

2. In the poem "There Will Come Soft Rains," the plum trees are in "tremulous" white. Readers can infer that this refers to what?
(a) Ash.
(b) Butterflies.
(c) Snow.
(d) Blossoms.

3. What is the likely purpose of inserting the house's "dialogue" ("Help, help! Fire! Run, run!") into the scene that describes the fire consuming the house?
(a) It reminds the reader of the death of the family.
(b) It reinforces how helpless and pointless the technology is in the face of nature's power.
(c) It reminds the reader that the house is a living thing.
(d) It clarifies the order in which the house is burning, because the house can still "speak."

4. What does Bradbury metaphorically compare the house to?
(a) An elderly unmarried woman.
(b) A closed umbrella.
(c) A zoo.
(d) A bomb shelter.

5. What is the job of the robot mice?
(a) Entertaining the children.
(b) Cleaning.
(c) Alerting the house to intruders.
(d) Entertaining the dog.

Short Answer Questions

1. When the windows break and the wind makes the fire grow and spread, which thematic motif is reinforced?

2. "Seven-nine, breakfast time" is an example of which rhyming technique?

3. Where are the "aluminium roaches and iron crickets"?

4. From two thirty-five to four o'clock, what can readers infer that the family would ordinarily be doing?

5. What is strange about how the nursery reacts to the fire?

(see the answer key)

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