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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. What happens at ten-fifteen?
2. What does the dog do once it gets inside the house?
3. To what does Bradbury compare folding tables?
4. What does "feathery fire" describe in the poem "There Will Come Soft Rains"?
5. The use of sentence fragments in the description of the spreading fire is probably intended to create what effect?
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. Explain the significance of the nursery decor.
3. Describe the image that ends the story and explain its significance.
4. In what way is the house's "speech" like nursery rhymes, and what is the purpose of this choice?
5. The garbage disposal in the kitchen is referred to as a "metal throat." What techniques are at use here, and what is their purpose?
6. How does Bradbury use the dates on which the story takes place as a form of foreshadowing?
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 the purpose of the story's allusion to Longfellow's poem "The Children's Hour."
9. How do the cleaning mice allude to Cinderella, and what is the purpose of this allusion?
10. Explain what evidence there is that the house deliberately causes the dog's death.
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Choose a piece of science fiction--a short story, novel, comic book, video game (that has a developed plot and characters), television show, etc. Think carefully about what messages this work is trying to send--not only about the future, but about the present. In two paragraphs, explain one message about the future and one message about the past, supporting your claims with textual details.
Essay Topic 2
Choose a device that Bradbury uses to convey meaning in "There Will Come Soft Rains." You might choose personification, allusion, imagery, diction, repetition, or any other device that you wish to write about--but remember that you need to connect its use to the overall meaning of the story.
Essay Topic 3
Imagine that you have been asked to write an updated version of Bradbury's story. Explain what details you would change in order to make the story more relevant to today's audiences, and tell why you would make these choices.
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This section contains 1,166 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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