There Will Come Soft Rains – MCQs (25 Questions)
Choose the correct option for each question.
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What is the setting of the story "There Will Come Soft Rains"?
a) A futuristic automated house in Allendale, California, after a nuclear war
b) A traditional family home in suburban America during peacetime
c) A space colony on Mars
d) A medieval castle powered by ancient machinery -
What date does the story take place on?
a) August 4, 2024
b) August 4, 2026
c) August 4, 2016
d) August 4, 2020 -
What is the primary reason the house continues operating?
a) The family members are still living there but hiding
b) The house is programmed to operate automatically regardless of human presence
c) Repair workers maintain it daily
d) It is powered by a perpetual energy source that requires supervision -
What does the house's voice do at eight-one o'clock?
a) It sings a weather song
b) It calls for people to go to school and work despite no one being present
c) It plays music for the empty house
d) It announces a fire emergency -
Which family members lived in the house?
a) The Henderson family
b) The Thomson family
c) The McClellan family
d) The Marshall family -
What does the weather box do?
a) Measures temperature changes
b) Controls the rain outside
c) Sings quietly about rain and suggests appropriate clothing
d) Stores weather data for analysis -
What happens to the uneaten breakfast at eight-thirty?
a) It remains on the table indefinitely
b) It is scraped into a sink and flushed away while dishes are cleaned automatically
c) The robotic mice consume it
d) It is incinerated immediately -
How is the family dog described when it returns at noon?
a) Healthy, energetic, and ready to play
b) Shivering, emaciated, and covered in sores from radiation poisoning
c) Aggressive and threatening to the house's systems
d) Confused but otherwise unharmed -
What are the "robotic mice" designed to do?
a) Detect intruders and set off alarms
b) Cook meals for the family
c) Clean up messes and debris throughout the house
d) Provide companionship to lonely inhabitants -
What does the narrator liken the incinerator to?
a) A dragon breathing fire
b) Evil Baal, a false god from the Bible
c) A phoenix rising from ashes
d) A mechanical heart beating within the house -
At nine-five, what does the house ask Mrs. McClellan?
a) What she wants for dinner
b) Which poem she would like to hear
c) Whether she needs any assistance
d) What her daily schedule should be -
Which Sara Teasdale poem does the house recite?
a) "Love and Grief"
b) "The Future"
c) "There Will Come Soft Rains"
d) "Nature's Indifference" -
What is the central theme of the Sara Teasdale poem?
a) The beauty of rainy weather
b) Nature's indifference to humanity's destruction and continued existence without humans
c) The importance of rain for agriculture
d) Human superiority over nature -
What triggers the fire that destroys the house?
a) A careless resident smoking a cigar
b) An electrical malfunction in the kitchen
c) A tree branch crashes through the kitchen window, spilling cleaning solvent onto the oven
d) Spontaneous combustion of household materials -
How does the house attempt to fight the fire?
a) It calls the fire department
b) It uses flashing lights and water sprays, but these prove ineffective
c) It seals all windows and doors
d) It creates a protective force field around the structure -
What does the house's destruction symbolize?
a) The failure of human engineering
b) Technology's ultimate vulnerability to natural forces and its inability to guarantee human survival
c) A necessary sacrifice for human progress
d) The triumph of mechanical systems over nature -
What survives the destruction of the house?
a) The central computer system
b) The robotic mice
c) Only the mechanical voice announcing the new date
d) The entire electrical infrastructure -
What does the mechanical voice announce on August 5?
a) A warning about the nuclear war
b) Instructions for rebuilding the house
c) The new date repeatedly, as if expecting inhabitants to wake up
d) A final message about the apocalypse -
What is revealed by the silhouettes on the charred wall?
a) The family's escape route
b) The exact moment the family died in the nuclear explosion, captured as shadows on the wall
c) A mural painted before the tragedy
d) Reflections of the family's daily activities -
How does Bradbury use anthropomorphism in the story?
a) By giving human names to all the machines
b) By describing the house and its automated systems as if they possess human emotions and awareness
c) By having the family members speak to the machines
d) By eliminating all references to mechanical nature -
What is the irony of the house's sophistication?
a) It performs tasks perfectly yet serves no human purpose
b) It was designed to destroy humans
c) It cannot understand simple commands
d) It deliberately ignores the family's needs -
Why is the dog's presence in the story significant?
a) It proves the nuclear war never happened
b) It is the only living creature to interact with the house, symbolizing the devastation of organic life
c) It repairs parts of the automated system
d) It communicates the house's secrets to readers -
What does the repetition of times throughout the day suggest?
a) The house's obsession with punctuality and control
b) That time passes meaningfully in an empty house
c) The family's busy schedule
d) Random automation without purpose -
How does Bradbury critique technological dependence?
a) By celebrating advanced machines
b) By showing that technology cannot save humans from their own destructive capacity and nature's power
c) By suggesting machines should rule humanity
d) By ignoring technology's role entirely -
What is the ultimate message of the story regarding humanity and technology?
a) Technology is humanity's salvation
b) Humans should abandon all machines
c) Blind faith in technology cannot protect humanity from self-destruction or nature's supremacy
d) Machines will eventually become sentient and rule the world
Answer Key
i) a – A futuristic automated house in Allendale, California, after a nuclear war
ii) b – August 4, 2026
iii) b – The house is programmed to operate automatically regardless of human presence
iv) b – It calls for people to go to school and work despite no one being present
v) c – The McClellan family
vi) c – Sings quietly about rain and suggests appropriate clothing
vii) b – It is scraped into a sink and flushed away while dishes are cleaned automatically
viii) b – Shivering, emaciated, and covered in sores from radiation poisoning
ix) c – Clean up messes and debris throughout the house
x) b – Evil Baal, a false god from the Bible
xi) b – Which poem she would like to hear
xii) c – "There Will Come Soft Rains"
xiii) b – Nature's indifference to humanity's destruction and continued existence without humans
xiv) c – A tree branch crashes through the kitchen window, spilling cleaning solvent onto the oven
xv) b – It uses flashing lights and water sprays, but these prove ineffective
xvi) b – Technology's ultimate vulnerability to natural forces and its inability to guarantee human survival
xvii) c – Only the mechanical voice announcing the new date
xviii) c – The new date repeatedly, as if expecting inhabitants to wake up
xix) b – The exact moment the family died in the nuclear explosion, captured as shadows on the wall
xx) b – By describing the house and its automated systems as if they possess human emotions and awareness
xxi) a – It performs tasks perfectly yet serves no human purpose
xxii) b – It is the only living creature to interact with the house, symbolizing the devastation of organic life
xxiii) a – The house's obsession with punctuality and control
xxiv) b – By showing that technology cannot save humans from their own destructive capacity and nature's power
xxv) c – Blind faith in technology cannot protect humanity from self-destruction or nature's supremacy