Summative There Will Come Soft Rains

Prompt: Identify and explain how Ray Bradbury shares his ideas about the price of progress in his short story, "There Will Come Soft Rains."

Which of the following would be the best topic sentence for the prompt?

• Ray Bradbury uses personification to illustrate nature is more powerful than any form of technology.

• Ray Bradbury uses many writing tools to share his thoughts on the price of progress.

• The price society pays for advancements in technology is quite high and Ray Bradbury is sending readers this warning.

• Ray Bradbury uses characterization, the setting and tone to show the stupidity of mankind.

Which piece of text evidence would best support this topic sentence: Bradbury uses the personification to illustrate nature's power over technology.

• "...the breakfast stove...ejected...eight pieces of perfectly browned toast, eight eggs...sixteen slices of bacon, two coffees, and two cool glasses of milk" (Bradbury 1).

• "At eight-thirty the eggs were shrivelled and the toast was like stone. An aluminium wedge scraped then into the sink, where hot water whirled them down a metal throat..." (Bradbury 1).

• "'Fire!' screamed a voice...The house tried to save itself. Doors sprang tightly shut...But the fire was clever...In the last instant under the fire avalanche...it slam flat down...attic smashing into into kitchen and parlour. The parlour into cellar, cellar into sub-cellar" (Bradbury 4-5).

• "The wind blew. A falling tree bough crashed through the kitchen window. Cleaning solvent, bottled, shattered over the stove. The room was ablaze in an instant (Bradbury 4).

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Which of the following would be the best example of a topic sentence and background information leading up to quoted text evidence to begin a paragraph response?

• Ray Bradbury uses personification in his story, "There Will Come Soft Rains," to show nature's power over technology. His story focuses on the destruction of a house even though the house tries to save itself from a fire. This house is quite automated and no one lives there because of some nuclear event. The following passage illustrates:...

• Ray Bradbury uses personification in "There Will Come Soft Rains" to show nature's fury. The house is destroyed by a fire, a natural force. The technology of the house could not save it. The following passage illustrates:...

• Ray Bradbury's short story, "There Will Come Soft Rains," focuses on the daily routine of a highly automated house of the future despite the deaths of the home owners. He personifies the house and the fire that destroys the house so that the house and the fire become opposing characters. Bradbury uses the struggle between the house and the fire as a warning to readers that no man or machine can prevail over nature. The following passage illustrates:...

• In his short story, "There Will Come Soft Rains," Ray Bradbury uses personification to illustrate no technology can be stronger than nature. The house is full of technology; technology that does everything a person would do. The following passage illustrates:...

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Ray Bradbury's short story, "There Will Come Soft Rains," focuses on the daily routine of a highly automated house of the future despite the deaths of the home owners. He personifies the house and the fire that destroys the house so that they become opposing characters. Bradbury uses the struggle between the house and the fire as a warning to readers that no man or machine can prevail over nature. The following passages illustrate:

"Fire!" screamed a voice...The house tried to save itself. Doors sprang tightly shut...wall sprays let down showers of mechanical rain...The fire crackled up the stairs. It fed upon Picassos and Matisses in the upper halls...But the fire was clever. It sent flames outside the house, up through the attic to the pumps there...The attic brain which directed the pumps was shattered...The fire burst the house and let it slam flat down...Dawn showed faintly in the east...even as the sun rose to shine upon the heaped rubble and steam...(4-5)

• Bradbury gives this house and the fire human characteristics to act like people. The fire "screams" and is "clever;" the house "shuts doors" and "sprays" water on the fire like a person would do. The "attic brain" can do nothing against the strength of the fire which ultimately destroys the house. By giving such human characteristics to these objects, Bradbury creates conflict which readers can understand. In the end, "dawn showed faintly in the east" or the sun began to rise. Bradbury focus is on this new day. No matter how much technology this house had, this technology could not withstand the forces of nature. A new day will always come; the sun will always rise and nature will prevail.

• From this passage readers understand the house is on fire. The house is equipped with technology to put out the fire but it struggles to do so. The fire burned paintings, shattered the pumps, and destroyed the house into a pile of ashes. The house burned down but the sun rose the next day showing that nature will prevail.

• Bradbury creates a house with a lot of technology. This house is able to fix breakfast, tell time, identify birthdays and when to pay the bills. This house was the only one standing and it glowed at night because of some nuclear event that ruined the city. A fire started when some cleaning solution spilled and ignited. This fire spread through the house quickly and the technology of the house tried to put out the fire but was unsuccessful. The house burned to the ground but the next day the sun rose and everything started over again. This is why Bradbury wrote this story.

Which is the correct works cited entry for the following information:

Ray Bradbury; "There Will Come Soft Rains;" www.btboces.org; accessed Nov. 6, 2019

• Bradbury, Ray. "There Will Come Soft Rains." btboces.org.

  www.btboces.org. Accessed 6 November 2019.

• Ray Bradbury. "There Will Come Soft Rains." www.btboces.org.

  btoces.org.

• "There Will Come Soft Rains." Bradbury, Ray. Accessed Nov. 6. 2019. www.btboces.org

• Bradbury, Ray. "There Will Come Soft Rains." btboces.org. Accessed Nov. 6, 2019. www.btboces.org

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Which of the following is the best example of properly punctuating and citing text evidence within your writing?

• A nuclear event is suggested in the description of the house: "...where the house had been burned...The entire west face of the house was black, save for five places...their images burned on wood in one titanic instant..." (Bradbury 2).

• Bradbury gives the kitchen human characteristics by saying the stove, "ejected...eight pieces of perfectly browned toast..." (Bradbury, p. 1).

• The highly automated house in Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains" announces the time of day and "Insurance is payable, as are the water, gas, and light bills" (Bradbury, 1).

• "Out of the wall, tiny robot mice darted." is an example of the automation of the house. (Bradbury 1).

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