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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. During the fire, what does Bradbury compare the house's dialogue to?
(a) A nursery rhyme.
(b) The poem "There Will Come Soft Rains."
(c) A person's last words.
(d) The epilogue of a play.

2. Where are the "aluminium roaches and iron crickets"?
(a) In the garage.
(b) In the nursery.
(c) In the yard.
(d) In the walls.

3. The line "And swallows circling with their shimmering sound" is an example of which technique?
(a) Personification.
(b) Parallelism.
(c) Metaphor.
(d) Alliteration.

4. In the poem "There Will Come Soft Rains," the plum trees are in "tremulous" white. Readers can infer that this refers to what?
(a) Blossoms.
(b) Snow.
(c) Butterflies.
(d) Ash.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does the dog want to get into the kitchen so badly?

2. "The house tried to save itself" is an example of which technique?

3. What does the breakfast stove make for breakfast?

4. Just before the house collapses, what does it do?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What are the poses of the people in their silhouettes on the side of the house, and why are they important to notice?

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

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

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

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

8. What is the meaning of the silhouettes on the side of the house?

9. Explain the significance of the nursery decor.

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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