Sep 9 2011

Complete "Study Guide for "There Will Come Soft Rains."  Due Monday.  Full sentence answers please.

Name_______________________

Period_______________

Study Guide for “There Will Come Soft Rains”

I. VOCABULARY: Be able to define the following words and understand them when they

                                  appear in the story or class discussion.

silhouette (s l - t )

                        paranoia (p r -noi )

                        quiver (kw v r)

                        regiment (r j -m nt)

                        incinerator

                        capillaries

                        oblivious

                        sublime

                        psychopathic

II. LITERARY TERMS: Be able to define each term and apply each term to the story.

            simile____________________________________________________

                        example:____________________________________________

            personification______________________________________________

                        example:____________________________________________

setting __________________________________________________

            What is the setting of the story?__________________________

symbolism_______________________________________________

irony____________________________________________________

protagonist: _______________________________________________

     Who or what is the protagonist of this story?_______________________

imagery__________________________________________________

suspense__________________________________________________

theme____________________________________________________

What is the theme of the story?__________________________

III. QUESTIONS: Answer the following questions.

1.  What unusual qualities and appliances does the house have? 

2.  What were the five spots of paint of?

3.  What happened to the people? 

4.  What are some things the house has been protecting itself from?

5. Why is the dog very thin and covered in sores? 

6.  What happens to the dog’s remains? 

7.  What can you infer the family usually does at 2:35? 

8.  What did the children usually do at 4:30? 

9.  What is the name of the family that lived in the house? 

10.  What are some things the house does to try to save itself? 

11. What was the last voice to die saying? 

Allusion:

• Quote from Story: "There, down tubes which fed into the cellar, it was dropped into the sighing vent of an incinerator which sat like evil Baal in a dark corner."

• Baal is the same as Beelzebub, who is an old pagan god that appears in the Old Testament. Search the Bible to see passages. His name translates into Lord of the Flies. He is also Satan's best friend in Milton's Paradise Lost (Book 1: line 75).

Utopian literature:  A type of literature in which an ideal society is depicted.  The word utopia is a pun on two Greek words outopia (no place) and eutopia (good place).  Sir Thomas More first used the word utopia when he wrote a book (in latin!) of that title.

Dystopian literature:  this term refers to an anti-utopia, or a “bad place” which is typically characterized by extreme mechanization or authoritarianism.  George Orwell’s novel 1984 and the Chrysalids by John Whyndham are examples of dystopian novels.