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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 story ends, what is left standing?

2. Which room recreates the sights, sounds, and smells of the African savanna?

3. In the sentence "The morning house lay empty," there is an example of which technique?

4. What does Bradbury say is like "an altar with ten-thousand attendants"?

5. "The house tried to save itself" is an example of which technique?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What are the poses of the people in their silhouettes on the side of the house, and why are they important to notice?

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

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. What is suggested by the fact that the house repeats the date "three times for memory's sake"?

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

8. Explain the inclusion of the Sara Teasdale poem in this story.

9. Explain the significance of the nursery decor.

10. 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.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The narrator of "There Will Come Soft Rains" is a very traditional third-person narrator, taking a removed and seemingly unbiased stance on the events of the story. But is that actually the case? What evidence do you see that the narrator actually does have an opinion about these events?

Essay Topic 2

Explain which details in "There Will Come Soft Rains" are explicitly taken from the history surrounding the dropping of the atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Offer a thesis about what these details are meant to accomplish and argue whether this is a successful strategy.

Essay Topic 3

Analyze the use of irony in "There Will Come Soft Rains." Explain both how irony is created and what purpose it serves in conveying meaning.

(see the answer keys)

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