Soft Rains & Harrison Bergeron

What can the reader assume about the humans in the story?

• They were slaughtered by an uprising of automated houses

• They were killed in the midst of a nuclear war

• They succumbed to a pandemic

• They moved under the threat of nuclear war

Which of the following best describes the setting of the story?

• Futuristic, deadly, and martial

• Futuristic, dystopian, and decaying

• Futuristic, politically repressive, alienated

• Futuristic, peaceful, rural

In the setting all domestic functions are performed by machines rather than human beings, what mood does this create?

• Simplistic and reductive

• Repulsive and horrifying

• Homey and comforting

• Impersonal and chilling

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

How does the author's chronologically structure the story?

• By using the automated, talking clock that announces the time

• By focusing on the weather from morning until night

• By numbering each section of the story with a title

• By constantly shifting from past to present to future

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.5

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.5

The reader can infer that the family's life was

• busy and complex

• orderly and carefree

• dull and restricted

• private and reclusive

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.1

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

The reader can infer what about Mrs. McClellan based the poem the house chose for her?

• She valued humanity more than the natural world

• She thought about the potential destruction of mankind

• She was a poet herself and wanted to imitate the poet

• She expected nature to suffer because of the unintended consequences of technology

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.10

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.8.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.10

CCSS.RL.9-10.9

The mood of lines 1-6 of the poem is best described as:

"There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,

and swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pools singing at night,

And wild plum trees in tremulous white,

Robins will wear their feathery fire

Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire."

• frenetic

• mysterious

• peaceful

• abandoned

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.10

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.8.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.10

CCSS.RL.9-10.9

In describing the house's actions throughout the story, the narrator draws the reader's attention to its

• genuine devotion to rituals related to maintaining order

• thoughtless, programmed persistence to pointless tasks

• uncaring and unthinking processes of daily upkeep

• kind-hearted subservience to humans

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

Symbolism in the poem is used in all of the following ways, except to

• emphasize irony as the destruction of mankind occurs in spite of the rebirth of nature conveyed by spring.

• establish the disparity between the endurance of the trees and the temporary nature of life.

• highlight the futility of the cleansing nature of rain that cannot wash away mankind's destruction.

• reveal the freedom that exists by the birds not caring about the destruction of mankind.

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.10

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.8.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.10

CCSS.RL.9-10.9

The speaker in the poem believes that the war

• rivals the beginning of spring.

• is insignificant to nature.

• will destroy nature as well as people.

• mirrors the natural world.

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.10

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.8.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.10

CCSS.RL.9-10.9