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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 is the first thing that the voice-clock announces?
(a) It is raining.
(b) Time for breakfast.
(c) Time to get up.
(d) Time for work.

2. What is unusual about the images of the African animals?
(a) Their faces.
(b) Their sizes.
(c) Their shapes.
(d) Their colors.

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

4. Which room recreates the sights, sounds, and smells of the African savanna?
(a) The living room.
(b) The nursery.
(c) The bathroom.
(d) The kitchen.

5. What causes the house to temporarily "give up" as the fire spreads?
(a) The house is waiting for the flames to reach the attic.
(b) It has begun to rain outside.
(c) The house is ready to "die."
(d) There is no more water.

Short Answer Questions

1. The line "And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn," contains an example of which technique?

2. What is strange about how the nursery reacts to the fire?

3. When the story ends, what is left standing?

4. The use of sentence fragments in the description of the spreading fire is probably intended to create what effect?

5. What is the reaction of nature to the end of human existence in the poem "There Will Come Soft Rains"?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

6. Explain the inclusion of the Sara Teasdale poem in this story.

7. What is the purpose of ending the story with the house fire? Why not just end it with the reading of the Teasdale poem?

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

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

10. Describe the image that ends the story and explain its significance.

(see the answer keys)

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