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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What allusion is present in the weather box's announcement of the rain?
(a) There is a reference to a Greek myth about rain and death.
(b) There is a reference to a famous Dutch painting.
(c) There is a reference to a very old folk tune, often sung by children.
(d) There is a reference to a popular book of Bradbury's time.

3. What effect is the constant repetition and rhyming of the voice-clock probably meant to have?
(a) It stresses the forgetfulness of the family.
(b) It reinforces the similarity of everything that the voice clock says.
(c) It echos the language of fairy tales and nursery rhymes.
(d) It demonstrates a positive attitude toward technology.

4. Who does the story imply is still alive in the city?
(a) A few scientists.
(b) The wealthy.
(c) No one.
(d) Some animals.

5. On what date does the story begin?
(a) April 4.
(b) April 6.
(c) August 6.
(d) August 4.

6. What is thematically important about the cause of the fire in the kitchen?
(a) The fire is started when the natural world intrudes into the house.
(b) The fire is started when the house's elaborate machinery begins to break down.
(c) The fire is started when one of the cleaning mice knocks over a cleaning product.
(d) The fire is started by the family dog.

7. What happens at ten o'clock?
(a) A stray animal wanders through the kitchen.
(b) The sun comes out.
(c) The robot mice go back to their burrows.
(d) The kitchen begins to make a second breakfast.

8. In the image of animals, the panther is said to be "cavorting." What is this panther doing?
(a) Hunting.
(b) Sleeping.
(c) Playing.
(d) Eating.

9. To what does Bradbury compare folding tables?
(a) Butterflies.
(b) Folded hands.
(c) Oysters,
(d) Books.

10. To what famous dog is this dog an allusion?
(a) President Lincoln's dog.
(b) Odysseus's dog.
(c) Cerberus.
(d) Buck, from Call of the Wild.

11. What does Bradbury say is like "an altar with ten-thousand attendants"?
(a) The house.
(b) The incinerator.
(c) The yard.
(d) The city.

12. To what story do the robot mice allude?
(a) Little Red Riding Hood.
(b) Beauty and the Beast.
(c) Cinderella.
(d) Snow White.

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

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

15. Why does the house let the dog in?
(a) It wants the dog to find the family.
(b) It recognizes the dog.
(c) It is programmed to let in any dog or cat.
(d) It is an accident.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why do the robot mice come out when they do?

2. When the fire travels outside and up the sides of the house, it is described as what?

3. During the fire, what does Bradbury compare the house's dialogue to?

4. What is the name of the family that owned the house?

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

(see the answer keys)

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