"Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed" Assessment

d. He is annoyed by the other Earth people in the town on Mars.

a. He is curious about the fate of the Martians.

c. He is afraid of being changed by the Martian environment.

b. He is angry at his wife for wanting to stay on Mars.

d. An atomic world war breaks out on Earth.

a. The family is happy living on a farm in the new settlement.

c. A rocket that Harry builds does not function.

b. The return ticket to Earth costs more than the family has.

b. His peach tree sheds strange new blossoms.

a. His children want to adopt Martian names.

c. His wife’s and his children’s eyes turn a golden color.

d. His neighbors calmly accept all the changes around them.

They are eager to return to Earth now that the atomic war is over.

They are different physically but still think and act like Earth people.

They are resigned to living on Mars but are unhappy with their lives there.

They are completely changed into Martians and have no memory of their past selves.

The location of the road is high in the mountains.

The area has experienced a long drought.

The road is impossible to navigate.

The road needs extensive work by the highway department.

space

cloud cover

surrounding air

chemistry

An abandoned dog sitting alone in the rain.

A teenage babysitter watching two young children play.

A busy man on a city street who has just missed a bus.

A soccer team that has just won a game.

a. The power of the environment to completely change the Earth people

c. The very hot weather on Mars that disturbs the Earth people

b. The sadness that Mr. Bittering feels when he cannot return to Earth

d. The destruction of the Earth people’s settlement on Mars

d. The captain looked at the room, the dusty windows, the blue mountains rising beyond, the canals moving in the light, and he heard the soft wind in the air. He shivered.

a. The wind blew as if to flake away their identities. At any moment, the Martian air might draw his soul from him, as marrow comes from a white bone.

b. “Even the house. The wind’s done something to it. The air’s burned it. The fog at night.”

c. The nights were full of wind that blew down the empty moonlit sea meadows past the little white chess cities lying for their twelve-thousandth year in the shallows.

a. Since we have limited resources on Earth, governments should look to other planets to meet our needs.

b. Humans are generally open-minded and peaceful in their encounters with the unknown.

d. Far-off worlds can be anything people imagine them to be.

c. Though people often fear and resist it, change is unavoidable in the end.

d. He feels enthusiastic about the new settlement that the captain is planning.

b. He likes the Martians and believes they are peaceful.

c. He suspects the Martians' involvement in the disappearance of the settlers.

a. He finds the environment on Mars unappealing.

The captain established headquarters in an abandoned bar. His lieutenant came back to report.

"They hadn't the foggiest notion of what happened to this town or its people."

"Six, eight hundred, I'd say, living in those marbles ruins in the hills, sir."

"Dark people. Yellow eyes. Martians. Very friendly...I'm sure our relations will be most friendly with them, sir."

b. At any moment the Martian air might draw his soul from him.

c. A few tremblings shook him, but were carried off in waves of pleasant heat as he lay in the sun.

a. The man felt... the tissues of his body draw tight as if he were standing at the center of a vacuum.

d. And then the water can build on that skeleton — green things, deep water things, red things, yellow things.

It describes how wind can overpower solid objects.

It makes the river and the wind seem like human beings.

It suggests that the wind is a powerful river.

It shows that the house is near a river.

"I feel like a salt crystal," he said, "in a mountain stream, being washed away."

"The children, small seeds, might at any instant be sown to all the Martian climes."

"This was the moment Mars had waited for. Now, it would eat them."

"The morning paper was toast-warm from the 6 A.M. Earth rocket."

The rubber tire swings are no longer used as playthings.

The rubber tire swings are peeling in the harsh summer sun.

The rubber tire swings swing back and forth in the breeze.

The rubber tire swings are too hot to play on.

a. It suggests fear for the safety of the children.

c. It expresses loss while suggesting the power of Mars.

d. It suggests dread that the settlers will return to revive the settlement.

b. It conveys a sense of nostalgia for life on Earth.

d. The story text’s specific focus on Harry develops a stronger character than the radio play’s focus on his entire family does.

c. The radio play’s dialogue and the actor’s interpretation of it create a better sense of his feelings than the story text’s narration does.

b. The radio play’s music and sound effects build on Harry’s thoughts and fears, which are not as well supported in the story text.

a. The story text’s narration directly reveals Harry’s thoughts and feelings, which must be inferred through his dialogue in the radio play.

a. Starting with this excerpt quickly establishes Mars as a threat and creates a feeling of dread in the audience.

d. The introductory excerpt sets up the audience to be surprised by the twist at the end of the plot.

c. Beginning in the middle of the plot makes the radio play seem more modern than the text.

b. Because the excerpt is out of context, it makes little sense until the radio play reaches the middle of the plot.

Mars will help them become more mature.

Mars will change people over time just like children change over time on Earth.

Things change because people mature.

If people can change, then Mars can too.

Simile

Onomatopoeia

Personification

Hyperbole