“There Will Come Soft Rains” –Ray Bradbury
Text dependent questions
Directions: Answer each on paper citing evidence for the text to support your
answer. HOWEVER, DO NOT QUOTE THE TEXT. PARAPHRASE THE EVIDENCE!
1- What is the organizational structure of the story? (In what format is it told-what order?)
What effect does the structure of the test create on the story itself?
2- The story begins at 7:00, with the line: “…In the living room the voice clock sang….as if it were
afraid nobody would…” What literary devices does Bradbury use? What is the effect of the
author’s use of these literary devices?
3- What has happened in the city? How do you know?
4- What is ironic about the author’s description of the house as on a “mechanical paranoia”?
5- Reread the paragraph below.
“…The house was an altar with ten thousand attendants, big, small, servicing,
attending, in choirs. But the gods had gone away and the ritual of the religion
continued senselessly, uselessly.”
What literary device is Bradbury using and how does it contribute to the message he is
conveying?
6- Reread the section about the dog (Lines 77-107). What point is Bradbury making by
introducing the dog at this juncture (point) in the story?
7- How does the author describe the nursery? What is significant about the way the nursery is
decorated? What makes this seem ironic?
8- When no poem is chosen, the house chooses “There Will Come Soft Rains” by Sara Teasdale. What
is the theme of the poem? Why does the author include the poem in the text of the story?
9- At line 165 the style of denoting the time has changed. Why? What does the author’s choice
about the structure at this point in the text signify?
10- Reread from line 165 to the end of the story. What literary device does the author use to depict
the fire? What does the description of the fire suggest? What do you think Bradbury is saying
through this?
11- Compare the description of the kitchen in lines 7-10 to lines 231-239. What do these differing
descriptions illustrate?
12- What is the significance of the repeated references to rain throughout the story?