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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 "delicacies" does the fire consume upstairs?
2. When the fire travels outside and up the sides of the house, it is described as what?
3. Who does the story imply is still alive in the city?
4. When the narrator tells readers that it seems like the voice-clock is worried that no one will get up, this is an example of what technique?
5. The line "And swallows circling with their shimmering sound" is an example of which technique?
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. In what way is the house's "speech" like nursery rhymes, and what is the purpose of this choice?
3. Explain the significance of the nursery decor.
4. Explain the purpose of the story's allusion to Longfellow's poem "The Children's Hour."
5. How does Bradbury use the dates on which the story takes place as a form of foreshadowing?
6. Explain the inclusion of the Sara Teasdale poem in this story.
7. What are the poses of the people in their silhouettes on the side of the house, and why are they important to notice?
8. Explain what is ironic about the rain in the nursery scenery.
9. What is ironic about Bradbury's use of rain in this story?
10. What is the meaning of the silhouettes on the side of the house?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
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 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 986 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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