ISC Short Answer Questions :
Question 1 : What kind of story is”There will Come Soft Rains” ?
Answer: The story is a science fiction. It narrates the story of a house that stands intact and unaffected in the city of Allendale, California that has been annihilated by nuclear bomb, and then the house is ravaged in a devastating fire caused by a windstorm.
Question 2 : Which activities are performed by the devices in the house at seven O’clock?
Answer: The house’s automatic alarm is set to wake uo the inmates at seven O’clock in the morning. At seven nine the sound system announces for breakfast time for the inmates. The automatic devices start to prepare a full spread of breakfast including – “eight pieces of perfectly browned toast, eight eggs sunny side up, sixteen slices of bacon, two coffees and two cool glasses of milk”.
In between this, a “second voice from the kitchen ceiling” reminds the date and events like birthdays and anniversaries and reminds the payable bills of water, gas, light and insurance, oblivious of the fact there is no one present in the house.
Question 3 : Who were the occupants of the house? Where are they now?
Answer: The McClellan family was the occupant of the house in the past. The family consisted of parents and two children. But it appears that the entire family has tragically perished in nuclear explosion that has devastated the whole city.
Question 4 : What does the weather box warn against ? What are the warnings given by its ?
Answer: At almost eight O’clock the weather box on the front door sang quietly “Rain, rain, go away; umbrellas, raincoat for today ….”. The automated device warns about rainfall and asks inmates to take raincoats and umbrellas when going out. It gives regular updates about weather and suitable clothing.
Question 5 : Explain the cleaning devices in the house.
Answer: The house is equipped with tiny robotic mice made up of rubber and metal, for cleaning. When it’s time to clean, these small cleaning animals “darted out” of warrens in the wall. They “thudded against chairs”, “whirling their moustached runners”, “kneading the rug nap”, ” sucking gently at hidden dust”. After finishing their task, these “mysterious invaders” popped into their burrows.
Question 6 : Where was the lonely house standing ? Why was it alone?
Answer: The lonely house was standing all alone in the city of Allendale, California, that has been rendered desolate by a nuclear catastrophe. It was standing alone as it is the only surviving house that has miraculously escaped the nuclear holocaust. But strangely its automatic systems keep on working despite the fact that all the inhabitants have become the victim of the holocaust.
Question 7 : Whose photographs were affected in the catastrophe ? Which fire spots are mentioned that still remained ?
Answer: The entire west face of the house was “black” where the paint has all been burnt off except for a few silhouettes of the former McClellan family. There is the image of a man moving the lawn, a woman bent to pick flowers and the images burned on wood in “one titanic instant” a small boy, hands flung in the air, the image of a thrown ball, and opposite him a girl, hands raised to catch the ball which “never came down”.
Question 8 : What does the description of the house tell you about the family and their relationship to nature ?
Answer: The McClellan family that once lived in the house which is fully equipped with latest gadgets, like – voice activated technology, security cameras, electric dishwasher, broadband etc. for all the household chores such as – cleaning, cooking, washing clothes and dishes, watering plants, making bed and even recreational activities. All these points indicate the extensive usage and reliance of the McClellan family over technology. While the remnants of garden and presence of nature photographs indicate their limited inclination towards nature.
Question 9 : Why is the dog very thin covered in sores ? What happens to it?
Answer: Since the automatic security system can identifies the voice of the dog, it was able to enter into the house. The dog was emaciated and covered in sores indicating that something catastrophic has happened to the occupants of the house. The condition of the dog indicates that it was severely affected by the radioactive nuclear fallout in the area and it was hungry.
The dog goes frantically from door to door of the house looking for its family, but it fails to find anyone.
The dog sniffed the air and scratched the kitchen door behind which the pancakes are being made and a rich baked odour filled the entire house. After some time it “frothed at the mouth”, lying at the door, “sniffing”, its “eyes turned to fire”. It “ran wildly in circles”, “biting at its tail”, spun in a frenzy and died.
The house’s cleaning mice, sensing decay, delicately moved the dog and deposited into the incinerator in he cellar.
Question 10 : Which entertainment activities for the members of the family were arranged by the house’s devices ?
Answer: For the entertainment of the members of the family the house automatic devices set bridge table and “playing cards fluttered onto pads in shower of pips”. “Martinis” with “egg – salad sandwiches” are presented and music played for the absent family members. Later as per routine, nursery walls begins to glow at four – thirty. Animals of different kinds and hues take shape on the glass walls.
At nine – five in the evening, a voice from the study – ceiling masks Mrs. McClellan which poem would she like to be played. Obviously there was silent. So the automatic sound system chooses to recite, at random, Sara Teasdale’s “There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground”.
Question 11 : What was to be done at 6, 7, 8 pm?
Answer: The night’s every activity has been scripted by the house. Technology rules over its residents, trying to maximise their enjoyment of every hour. From six to eight O’clock, the dinner dishes move “like magic tricks” and a hearth fire “click” starts in the study. Opposite the hearth fire, in the metal stand, the house lights a cigar, that is “smoking” and “waiting” until it turned out to be “soft gray ash”.
Question 12 : How did the house catch fire ? How did it try to save itself ?
Answer : In the night, a furious wind blows and knocks a tree in the kitchen window. It tips over a cleaning solvent, which spills over the stove. “The room was ablaze in an instant”. It starts a fire which engulfs the house.
The house attempts to “save itself” by shutting its doors “tightly” but the windows were broken by the heat and wind blew to spread the fire. Then “scurrying” water rats “squeaked from the walls” and pistolled their water until their personal supply runs out. The “wall spray” let down “showers of mechanical rain” from the ceiling until at last the house’s water reserves are exhausted.
  The fire continues to attic where tiny blind robot mice  “peered down” with  “faucet mouths gushing green chemical”. This momentarily causes the fire to back off as “twenty snakes”, ” whipping over” the floor killing the fire with a  “clear cold venom of green froth”. But ultimately the house fails to save itself from the raging fire.