The Devil and Tom Walker

1. The Devil and Tom Walker By: Washington Irving

2. Please select a Team. • Blonde Hair • Red Hair • Brown Hair • Black Hair

3. What is the story’s setting? • A Midwestern frontier pine forest, circa 1608 • The New Orleans, Louisiana, riverfront, circa 1680 • A forest near Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1727 • A pond deep in the Maine forest, circa 1850

4. Fastest Responders (in seconds)

5. Tom Walker might best be described as — • having been beaten down by bad luck • basically kind but misunderstood • crafty but very lazy • stingy and cruel but courageous

6. Fastest Responders (in seconds)

7. Tom Walker’s wife is best described as — • very generous and much loved by her neighbors • kind toward her husband, but cruel to others • yearning for companionship • fierce shrew, always nagging and yelling

8. Fastest Responders (in seconds)

9. In this story the woods are used to symbolize — • evil • goodness • isolation • greed

10. Fastest Responders (in seconds)

11. Which of the following phrases is an example of Irving’s use of humor? • “Tom consoled himself for the loss of his property, with the loss of his wife, for he was a man of fortitude.” • “He knows how to play his cards when pretty sure of his game.” • “He insisted that the money found through his means should be employed in his service.” • “ ‘You shall extort bonds, foreclose mortgages, drive the merchants to bankruptcy—.’ ”

12. Fastest Responders (in seconds)

13. What does Irving use to symbolize hypocrisy and hidden evil? • The devil’s deal with Tom • Mrs. Walker’s heart and liver, wrapped in the checked apron • The flourishing trees that are rotten to the core • The Walkers’ silver teapots and spoons

14. Fastest Responders (in seconds)

15. What enabled you to predict that the figure that appears to Tom in the forest is the devil? • He appears when Tom kicks the skull. • He has large red eyes. • He has a hoarse, growling voice. • Tom is instantly frightened.

16. Fastest Responders (in seconds)

17. Tom’s wife decides to go into the forest because she — • wants to escape from Tom’s unkindness • decides to make her own deal with the devil • gets lost on her way to the market • wants to pick some herbs and wild mushrooms for their meager meal

18. Fastest Responders (in seconds)

19. How does Tom die? • The people he has cheated rise up against him. • He falls off his horse and gets trampled. • The devil is tricked by his own words. • He is killed by Native Americans.

20. Fastest Responders (in seconds)

21. What happens to Tom Walker’s money at the end of the story? • It is given to the townspeople. • The townspeople seize it. • It goes to Mrs. Walker. • It turns into cinders and ashes.

22. Fastest Responders (in seconds)

23. What feeling about the setting does Irving want to arouse? • fear • optimism • anger • hope

24. Fastest Responders (in seconds)

25. Which item best contributes to the story’s mood? • “The swamp was thickly grown with great gloomy pines and hemlocks . . . which made it dark at noonday. . .” • “. . . stepping from tuft to tuft of rushes and roots . . .” • “At length he arrived at a firm piece of ground, which ran like a peninsula into the deep bosom of the swamp.” • “Nothing remained of the old Indian fort but a few embankments, gradually sinking to the level of the surrounding earth.”

26. Fastest Responders (in seconds)

27. “The Devil and Tom Walker” is based on the archetype of a person who — • is unhappy in marriage • lives in New England • sells his soul to the devil • hunts for treasure

28. Fastest Responders (in seconds)

29. Like Tom Walker, no doubt you weren’t surprised by the appearance of the devil. You were prepared because you knew that Tom — • had read or heard about other people meeting with the devil • had met the devil before • is the kind of man who is not surprised by anything • took the shortcut in order to meet the devil

30. Fastest Responders (in seconds)