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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is true of Rip's children in the beginning of the story?
(a) They are somewhat neglected.
(b) They are dangerously unsupervised.
(c) They are much more like their mother than like Rip.
(d) They refuse to speak to him.

2. What kind of relationship does Rip have with the village children?
(a) The children are frightened of Rip because of his habit of talking to himself.
(b) The children are frightened of Rip because he is always yelling at his son and daughter.
(c) He is a favorite of theirs because he plays with them and tells stories.
(d) He is a favorite of theirs because he steals apples from a nearby orchard for them.

3. Who is Peter Stuyvesant?
(a) Rip's neighbor.
(b) A former governor of New York.
(c) The village schoolmaster.
(d) The owner of the village inn.

4. On page 29, the setting sun causes something to light up and glow "like a crown of glory." This is an example of what literary technique?
(a) Metaphor.
(b) Simile.
(c) Understatement.
(d) Alliteration.

5. On page 30, the reader is told that Rip has an "insuperable aversion to all kinds of profitable labour." What does this mean is true about him?
(a) He is simply lazy.
(b) He is physically unable to do heavy labor.
(c) He is eager to work at anything that will help himself, but he does not like to help others.
(d) He hates working hard for his own material comfort and financial security.

6. How might Rip's house be described?
(a) Filthy.
(b) Expensive.
(c) Inviting.
(d) Run-down.

7. On page 30, the reader learns that Rip is "obsequious" and his wife is a "termagant." What can accurately be said about their relationship?
(a) They have violent arguments with each other.
(b) They each have a skill that helps the other.
(c) One bullies the other.
(d) One is embarrassed by the other.

8. When on page 31, the narrator refers to Rip's wife's nagging as a "torrent of household eloquence," what tone is created?
(a) Maudlin.
(b) Ironic.
(c) Farcical.
(d) Nostalgic.

9. What evidence does the frame narrator give that the main story's narrator is still well-liked?
(a) There is a street in New York named after him.
(b) His picture is stamped onto new year's cakes.
(c) His portrait is hung in many local schools.
(d) There is a children's rope-skipping rhyme about him.

10. What is Rip's son's name?
(a) Rip.
(b) John.
(c) Dutch.
(d) Peter.

11. Who is the author of "Rip Van Winkle"?
(a) James Fenimore Cooper.
(b) Diedrich Knickerbocker.
(c) Washington Irving.
(d) Geoffrey Crayon.

12. Why does Rip stop spending time with his friends?
(a) His friends decide that he is too lazy to be friends with.
(b) His friends move away to a bigger town.
(c) His wife yells at them constantly.
(d) His wife tells him he cannot spend time with them anymore.

13. Where is the village that Rip lives in?
(a) On the island of Manhattan.
(b) On the Atlantic coast.
(c) At the foot of the Catskill Mountains.
(d) At the foot of the Appalachian Mountains.

14. Where does Rip spend time with his friends?
(a) On a bench outside the village inn.
(b) Hunting in the woods.
(c) Inside the bar of a local hotel.
(d) Fishing in the Hudson River.

15. When on page 31, the narrator says of Rip that he will "eat white bread or brown," how is Rip being characterized?
(a) He is unaware of what he is eating.
(b) He overeats.
(c) He only likes two kinds of bread.
(d) He is easy to please.

Short Answer Questions

1. On page 29, the narrator says that a person might have "descried" the smoke from the village. What does this mean a person might have done?

2. Who is the frame narrator of "Rip Van Winkle"?

3. What is Diedrich Knickerbocker's profession?

4. After he can no longer spend time with his friends, where does Rip start going to spend time away from his home and farm?

5. From the description of Rip's attitude to his farm, on page 30, what can be deduced about Rip?

(see the answer keys)

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