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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. When the windows break and the wind makes the fire grow and spread, which thematic motif is reinforced?
2. In the section about the nursery, Bradbury mentions the "sprockets" in the walls. What are "sprockets"?
3. What does the house provide after dinner?
4. Which is the best descriptor of the mood of the scene in the study, where the poem is read and music plays as a cigar slowly burns down to ash?
5. What happens to the dog when it cannot get into the kitchen?
Short Essay Questions
1. What is the purpose of ending the story with the house fire? Why not just end it with the reading of the Teasdale poem?
2. What is the difference between the focus of Teasdale's poem and the focus of Bradbury's short story?
3. 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.
4. In what way is the house's "speech" like nursery rhymes, and what is the purpose of this choice?
5. What is the intended effect of juxtaposing the images of the silhouettes with the description of the house's continued paranoia about intruders?
6. Explain the significance of the nursery decor.
7. The garbage disposal in the kitchen is referred to as a "metal throat." What techniques are at use here, and what is their purpose?
8. Explain the purpose of the story's allusion to Longfellow's poem "The Children's Hour."
9. Explain the inclusion of the Sara Teasdale poem in this story.
10. What is the likely purpose of including mechanical creatures such as rats and roaches?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
The tone of "There Will Come Soft Rains" is overwhelmingly ironic. But is that the intended mood? Remember that "tone" is the narrator's attitude, while "mood" has to do with the reader's feelings. What feelings do you think that this story is intended to create in the reader, and what textual evidence supports your ideas?
Essay Topic 2
In Bradbury's time, nuclear war seemed like the most serious threat to humanity's future. What seems like the most serious threat today? Choose a threat to defend as the most serious, and defend your choice with researched evidence.
Essay Topic 3
Why, at the end of the story, does one voice calmly read poetry while around it the rest of the house is descending into chaos? What historic events might this allude to, and what effect does this detail have on a reader's understanding of the story?
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This section contains 1,064 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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