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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 causes the fire to eventually win the battle with the house?
(a) The wind creates flames so intense the house cannot fight them.
(b) The house stops defending itself.
(c) The rain stops.
(d) The fire reaches the house's "brain" in the attic.

2. What does Bradbury compare the chemical fire-fighting foam to?
(a) Snakes.
(b) Clouds.
(c) Elephants.
(d) Seafoam.

3. In the section about the nursery, Bradbury mentions the "sprockets" in the walls. What are "sprockets"?
(a) Insects.
(b) Cogwheels.
(c) Robots.
(d) Cameras.

4. What is strange about how the nursery reacts to the fire?
(a) The nursery is the only room that does not turn on its sprinklers.
(b) The animal images seem to be aware of the fire.
(c) The nursery deliberately opens its windows during the fire.
(d) The voice in the nursery walls begins singing an old children's song.

5. In which city does the story take place?
(a) San Francisco.
(b) Sacramento.
(c) Petaluma.
(d) Allendale.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does the house let the dog in?

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

3. Bradbury mentions that martinis "manifested" on tables. What did the martinis do?

4. At one point, Bradbury says that the house has a "preoccupation" with self-protection. What must be true about the house?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. 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.

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

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

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

5. Explain the significance of the nursery decor.

6. Explain the allusion to Odysseus's dog and how it functions in the 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. What is the meaning of the silhouettes on the side of the house?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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