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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. What does the dog do once it gets inside the house?
(a) It looks through the house for the family's other dog.
(b) It begins eating the spoiled food.
(c) It barks at every door.
(d) It falls asleep in the nursery.

2. What does "feathery fire" describe in the poem "There Will Come Soft Rains"?
(a) The movement of feathers in the sunshine.
(b) The movement of flames destroying the earth.
(c) The color of the rays of the sun coming over the horizon.
(d) The color of a male robin's breast.

3. Why do the robot mice come out when they do?
(a) They mistake the noise of the rain for an intruder.
(b) They are programmed to come out at nine-fifteen.
(c) They are looking for the family.
(d) There is food spilled near the table.

4. Why does the dog want to get into the kitchen so badly?
(a) Its food dish is in the kitchen.
(b) It thinks the family is in the kitchen.
(c) The house has begun making pancakes.
(d) The rest of the house is filling with smoke.

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. To what famous dog is this dog an allusion?

3. What effect is the constant repetition and rhyming of the voice-clock probably meant to have?

4. On what date does the story begin?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What is suggested by the fact that the house repeats the date "three times for memory's sake"?

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

4. Explain how the pun in the line "The morning house lay empty" explains why the house is empty and foreshadows the story's later revelation of the family's fate.

5. In what way is the house's "speech" like nursery rhymes, and what is the purpose of this choice?

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

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

8. Explain what is ironic about the rain in the nursery scenery.

9. What is the difference between the focus of Teasdale's poem and the focus of Bradbury's short story?

10. How do the cleaning mice allude to Cinderella, and what is the purpose of this allusion?

(see the answer keys)

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