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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 Mr. and Mrs. Hadley scream, they realize why the screams they heard before sound familiar. Why is this?

2. What is the problem that Lydia is beginning to feel with the house?

3. What do George and Lydia hear while they are lying in bed?

4. What do they see when they look to the sky?

5. Who says the following: “But nothing’s too good for our children”?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do Peter and Wendy trick George and Lydia into the nursery?

2. Why do George and Lydia suppose that they cannot change the nursery?

3. What does David McClean find on the floor of the nursery?

4. Why does Lydia want George to look at the nursery?

5. Describe the sensory experience of the nursery. What senses does the nursery appeal to? Use a description from the text as an example.

6. Why does Lydia “bolt and run”?

7. Why does George cave and turn the nursery on for just “one more minute”?

8. How do Wendy and Peter react when George asks them about Africa?

9. How does Lydia propose to change her feelings of worthlessness?

10. How does Peter threaten his father?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Which secondary characters have the greatest impact on the plot? Which, if any, characters are not essential to the story? Explain.

Essay Topic 2

Bradbury’s work often makes a political statement about the future of our society.

Research and give a brief biographical sketch of Ray Bradbury. Do you think there is always some of the author's own life in his/her novels? Why or why not? Give examples. Name one idea/concept you think may have been a part of the Bradbury's agenda. Analyze that idea throughout the book and discuss Bradbury's probable agenda concerning that idea.

Essay Topic 3

It is clear that the relationship between George and Lydia and their children is strained. At one point in the short story, George mentions that he and Lydia are treated like the offspring and not the parents.

Describe the relationship between the parents and children. How do George and Lydia know something isn’t right with their children?

(see the answer keys)

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