WorksheetsDark They Were, and Golden Eyed
Total questions: 37
Worksheet time: 34mins
What was the atmosphere like on Mars?
Wet and humid
Wet and cold
Windy and hot
Windy and cold
The author of the short story "Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed."
Harry Bittering
J.K Rowling
Henry Clay
Ray Bradbury
What genre is the short story "Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed?"
Mystery
Romance
Science Fiction
Non-Fiction
How do the humans change while they are living on Mars?
They stop growing
They become darker, taller and golden-eyed
They become shorter, taller and golden-eyed
They become shorter and thinner
How does Mr. Bittering feel about living on Mars?
excited
annoyed
fearful
happy
What is Harry Bittering’s main emotion in the first half of “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed”?
He is curious about the fate of the Martians.
He is angry at his wife for wanting to stay on Mars.
He is afraid of being changed by the Martian environment.
He is annoyed by the other Earth people in the town on Mars.
Which of the following best states a major theme in “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed”?
Since we have limited resources on Earth, governments should
look to other planets to meet our needs.
Humans are generally open minded and peaceful in their
encounters with the unknown.
Though people often fear and resist it, change is unavoidable in
the end.
Far-off worlds can be anything people imagine them to be.
What is the first sign that Mr. Bittering is beginning to accept changes?
Mr. Bittering allows his son to change his name.
Mr. Bittering begins to use the old names for landmarks.
Mr. Bittering insists on building the rocket, despite the indifference of others.
Mr. Bittering imagines big, lazy furniture in the villa.
What is Harry's FIRST clue that his world is changing?
his children want Martian names
The peach blossoms change color and his garden grows green roses and purple grass
Their eyes turn golden
His neighbors calmly accept all of the change
What is the setting of "Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed"?
A colony on an unknown planet
Earth during a nuclear war
Mars after human colonization
The Moon's first settlement
How does Harry Bittering initially react to the changes on Mars?
He embraces them immediately
He becomes increasingly paranoid
He celebrates the changes
He remains indifferent
What happens to the rocket Harry tries to build?
It is never completed
It successfully launches
It is destroyed by others
It explodes during launch
The rescue team takes it back to Earth as evidence
Who is the main character of the story?
Michael McDonough
Harry Bittering
Cora Bittering
Ray Bradbury
How do most colonists react to their transformation?
They fight against it
They panic and flee
They remain unaware
They accept it gradually
What happens when new rockets from Earth finally arrive?
They find an empty settlement
They're attacked by colonists
They find transformed colonists
They never actually land on Mars
At the end of the story... what arrives on Mars five years after the Bitterings settled there?
A rescue team
Martians
A new group of settlers
Scientists
What does the ending of the story suggest about human adaptation?
It's inevitable
It's unnecessary
It's impossible
It's dangerous
What is the primary setting of the story "Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed"?
Mars
Earth
The Moon
Unknown Planet
How does Mrs. Bittering's attitude change throughout the story?
She becomes more worried
She grows more accepting of Mars
She becomes hostile to her family
She remains unchanged
What symbolic meaning could the colonists' physical changes represent?
The dangers of space travel
The superiority of Martian life
The fragility of human biology
The process of adaptation and assimilation
How does Mr. Bittering's character develop throughout the story?
He becomes more authoritative
He grows increasingly paranoid
He transitions from resistance to acceptance
He remains static and unchanged
If the Martians were all gone, how did the Earth people learn the Martian words and names for things?
They found records of the names in the old buildings.
Mysterious forces on the planet changed their language
The air on the planet made them smarter
A Martian survivor taught them the names,
Mr. Bittering comes to believe that:
The food they grow is poisonous
The Martians are the ones changing their food
He has traveled forward in time
All options are correct
Which of these is NOT one of the changes the people start experiencing in Mars:
Their tone of skin starts changing
Their eye color starts changing
Their voices start changing
Their height and weight starts changing
What is the main reason the Bittering family was prevented from returning to Earth?
They are lost and do not know how to get back to the station
The Martians have taken the rockets
At atomic bomb hit New York where the rockets were mainly coming from
People from Earth do not want to go to Mars anymore
What 2 things does Mr. Bittering do to cope with his fears about living on Mars? SELECT TWO OPTIONS
He starts writing down the changes around him
He builds a rocket to go back to Earth
He stops eating food from Mars
He stops socializing with everyone around him
How many family members make up the Bitterings family?
5
4
2
6
At the end of the story, what happens to all the Earth people who moved to Mars?
They fought in a space war and were all killed in battle.
They found their own way back to Earth
They all died of a mysterious illness.
They became Martians and moved to the mountains.
Which characteristic makes it clear that this is a fictional piece of literature?
The colorful setting
The use of figurative language
The setting is in Mars
The use of dialogue
Which sentence best describes the Bittering family at the end of the story?
They are completely changed into Martians and have no memory of their past selves.
They are resigned to live on Mars, but are unhappy about it.
They look different but still think and act like Earth people.
They are eager to return to Earth now that the war is over.
What does the color change in the characters' eyes symbolize in "Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed"?
The characters' physical adaptation to the Martian environment.
The characters' longing for their home on Earth.
The characters' ability to see in the dark.
The characters' loss of identity.
Why is the atom bomb that destroyed Earth significant in this story?
It allowed more humans to move and start life over on Mars.
It gave the humans on Earth a sense of happiness that they had escaped Earth.
It forced the humans on Mars to work even harder to move back to Earth.
It made moving back to Earth much more difficult, if not impossible.
As the humans change, they decide to move out of their "American-like" cities and into the villas on Mars. What does this represent?
They are leaving their human existence behind.
They are excited to build new "American-like" towns, elsewhere.
It represents the poor relationships they have with the Martians currently living on Mars.
It represents the refusal to change and adapt.
Read the following paragraphs.
‘'We must get away,' said Bittering. 'We'll eat this stuff and then we'll change -who knows to what. I can't let it happen. There's only one thing to do. Burn this food!''It's not poisoned.''But it is. Subtly, very subtly. A little bit. A very little bit. We mustn't touch it.'He looked with dismay at their house. 'Even the house. The wind's done something to it. The air's burned it. The fog at night. The boards, all warped out of shape. It's not an Earthman's house any more.''Oh, your imagination!'.
What do the paragraphs above reveal about Mr. Bittering’s perspective?
(RL.7.6)
The paragraphs illustrate how Mr. Bittering feels that they should have planted different food and built a different kind of house.
The paragraphs emphasize how important Mrs. Bittering’s opinion is to Mrs. Bittering.
The paragraphs show how glad Mr. Bittering is to be on Mars with his family.
The paragraphs that Mr. Bittering thinks that the planet will cause them harm by changing them in some way.
Which of these quotations from “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed” best supports the fact that the attitude of the lieutenant at the end of the story thought the Martians were pleasant.
The captain established headquarters in an abandoned bar. His lieutenant came back to report.
“Dark people. Yellow eyes. Martians. Very friendly. . . . I’m sure our relations will be most friendly with them, sir.”
“Six, eight hundred, I’d say, living in those marble ruins in the hills, sir.”
“They hadn’t the foggiest notion of what happened to this town or its people.”
Why does Harry's son start calling his father Utha?
He is slowly becoming a Martian.
He is making fun of his father.
He is jealous of his father.
He is afraid of calling his father by his real name.
Harry got little assistance from others in building a rocket because
No one else cared about returning to Earth
He was the only person who knew how to build one
Everyone else thought a rocket would arrive soon
He was really cranky and no one liked him
