Question

Read this passage from “There Will Come Soft Rains.”

The house was an altar with ten thousand attendants, big, small,
servicing, attending, in choirs. But the gods had gone away, and the
ritual of the religion continued senselessly, uselessly.

Which answer choice gives the most important reason the author chose to make this comparison?
A. to show that the house works without a purpose now that the people it served are gone
B. to show that the house continues to function exactly as it did when people lived there
C. to show that the house has destroyed the people instead of serving them
D. to show that the house was once a popular and well-attended church

Answer 1

A.

The simile (house = altar) and the line "the gods had gone away, and the ritual... continued senselessly, uselessly" emphasize that the automated house keeps performing its routines even though the people it served are gone, so those actions no longer have purpose. The other options are incorrect because B ignores the point of purposelessness, C is unsupported, and D takes the comparison literally.