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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 to the dog when it cannot get into the kitchen?

2. To what does the phrase "the children's hour" allude?

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

4. During the fire, what does Bradbury compare the house's dialogue to?

5. What does "feathery fire" describe in the poem "There Will Come Soft Rains"?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Explain the significance of the nursery decor.

4. How does Bradbury use the dates on which the story takes place as a form of foreshadowing?

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

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

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

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

9. 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.

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Look up "The McClellan Family Townhome" from Fallout. Once you are familiar with what Fallout is and with this location within the game, write an essay that explains how the details of the Townhome correspond with things described in "There Will Come Soft Rains" and how this is intended to be humorous. Then, give your opinion about whether it actually is funny, and why.

Essay Topic 2

Read and then write an analysis of "What the Dead Man Said" by Chinelo Onwualu (available online). Your thesis should make a claim about the story's theme, and the rest of your essay should defend that claim.

Essay Topic 3

Bradbury chooses Picasso and Matisse paintings to stand in for the idea of human cultural achievement. In what way does this choice reveal something about Bradbury's background? Write a two-paragraph essay in which you explore both Bradbury's choice and how alternate choices might more fully speak of "human cultural achievement."

(see the answer keys)

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