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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 does Bradbury say is like "an altar with ten-thousand attendants"?
2. What does the garage do when no one drives the car away?
3. What does Bradbury compare to Baal?
4. The line "And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn," contains an example of which technique?
5. What is the likely purpose of inserting the house's "dialogue" ("Help, help! Fire! Run, run!") into the scene that describes the fire consuming the house?
Short Essay Questions
1. How does Bradbury use the dates on which the story takes place as a form of foreshadowing?
2. Explain the allusion to Odysseus's dog and how it functions in the story.
3. Explain the inclusion of the Sara Teasdale poem in this story.
4. What is the meaning of the silhouettes on the side of the house?
5. What is ironic about Bradbury's use of rain in this story?
6. What is the difference between the focus of Teasdale's poem and the focus of Bradbury's short story?
7. 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.
8. What is suggested by the fact that the house repeats the date "three times for memory's sake"?
9. How do the cleaning mice allude to Cinderella, and what is the purpose of this allusion?
10. What is the purpose of ending the story with the house fire? Why not just end it with the reading of the Teasdale poem?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
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."
Essay Topic 2
Choose a symbol in "There Will Come Soft Rains" and explain how the symbol is employed. That is, how is it developed, what is its significance, and how does this help convey meaning?
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 1,115 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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