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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When the story ends, what is left standing?
(a) A tree.
(b) One wall of the house.
(c) Nothing.
(d) A distant building.

2. Which room recreates the sights, sounds, and smells of the African savanna?
(a) The nursery.
(b) The kitchen.
(c) The living room.
(d) The bathroom.

3. In the section about the nursery, Bradbury mentions the "sprockets" in the walls. What are "sprockets"?
(a) Cogwheels.
(b) Insects.
(c) Cameras.
(d) Robots.

4. What does the house provide after dinner?
(a) A warm bath.
(b) Music and hot chocolate.
(c) Games and snacks.
(d) A fire and a cigar.

5. What "delicacies" does the fire consume upstairs?
(a) The children's toys.
(b) Paintings by well-known artists.
(c) The clothing of every member of the family.
(d) Vinyl record albums by famous singers.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is unusual about the images of the African animals?

2. What does the dog do once it gets inside the house?

3. What is the house compared to as it burns to the ground?

4. What happens to the dog when it cannot get into the kitchen?

5. What is the reaction of nature to the end of human existence in the poem "There Will Come Soft Rains"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the likely purpose of including mechanical creatures such as rats and roaches?

2. Explain the purpose of the story's allusion to Longfellow's poem "The Children's Hour."

3. Describe the image that ends the story and explain its significance.

4. Explain the inclusion of the Sara Teasdale poem in this story.

5. What is ironic about Bradbury's use of rain in this story?

6. Explain the allusion to Odysseus's dog and how it functions in the story.

7. Explain what evidence there is that the house deliberately causes the dog's death.

8. The garbage disposal in the kitchen is referred to as a "metal throat." What techniques are at use here, and what is their purpose?

9. How does Bradbury use the dates on which the story takes place as a form of foreshadowing?

10. What is the purpose of ending the story with the house fire? Why not just end it with the reading of the Teasdale poem?

(see the answer keys)

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