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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is true of the tree Tom is sitting on?
(a) It bears Tom's own name.
(b) The devil has lit it on fire.
(c) It bears the name of Absalom Crowninshield.
(d) The devil claims that it fell down on its own.

2. What does the devil say is one way he currently entertains himself?
(a) By tempting anabaptists into sin.
(b) By helping the Puritans persecute other Christians.
(c) By encouraging war between Natives and Europeans.
(d) By making deals for the souls of Puritans.

3. How does Tom treat his most needy clients?
(a) He breaks the rules of his bargain with the devil to help them.
(b) He pretends that he will help them, then refuses to do business with them.
(c) He mocks them and is openly rude.
(d) He takes advantage of their need to drive especially hard bargains with them.

4. What is true of the tree with Deacon Peabody's name on it?
(a) It stands apart from all of the other trees.
(b) The devil is burning it when Tom arrives.
(c) It is rotten inside.
(d) It has fallen to the ground.

5. What tool does the devil carry?
(a) A pitchfork.
(b) A scythe.
(c) A blacksmith's hammer.
(d) An axe.

Short Answer Questions

1. Part of the story is set in a morass. What kind of location is this?

2. Why is Tom's business immediately successful?

3. What is the rumor in town about Absalom Crowninshield?

4. When the narrator says that Tom has built his house out of ostentation, what does this mean Tom's motive was?

5. What does the countryman say he saw happen to Tom Walker?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are Tom Walker's first house and property like?

2. What is the implication of the conversation between the devil and Tom about the ownership of the swamp land?

3. What kind of a person is Tom Walker's wife?

4. What does Tom believe is in the apron, and how does he feel when he sees it?

5. Before Tom and the devil part, how does the devil seal his side of the bargain and what does this allude to?

6. What does Tom believe happened to his wife, and why, and how does he feel about it?

7. How does Tom ultimately slip up and get captured by the devil?

8. What is the reaction of the Walkers' neighbors to their fighting?

9. What do Tom and the devil negotiate about before striking a bargain, and what is the bargain they strike?

10. Who is the guardian of William Kidd's treasure, and why?

(see the answer keys)

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