View a FREE sample

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 use of sentence fragments in the description of the spreading fire is probably intended to create what effect?
(a) Distance and irony.
(b) Chaos and speed.
(c) Apathy and resignation.
(d) Confusion and doubt.

2. 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 reminds the reader that the house is a living thing.
(c) It reinforces how helpless and pointless the technology is in the face of nature's power.
(d) It clarifies the order in which the house is burning, because the house can still "speak."

3. What can be seen on the house's west wall?
(a) Water beginning to seep in at the foundation.
(b) Broken glass.
(c) The silhouettes of the family.
(d) A huge crater.

4. Bradbury mentions that martinis "manifested" on tables. What did the martinis do?
(a) Sparkled.
(b) Spilled.
(c) Evaporated.
(d) Appeared.

5. What is the probable purpose of emphasizing the roundness of the smoke plume and the great quantity of smoke?
(a) It reinforces the "technology versus nature" motif.
(b) It points out how little chance the house really had.
(c) It reminds the reader of a nuclear explosion.
(d) There is an implied comparison to a woman's skirts.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What "delicacies" does the fire consume upstairs?

3. To what does Bradbury compare folding tables?

4. In the image of animals, the panther is said to be "cavorting." What is this panther doing?

5. Why does the house let the dog in?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 337 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample