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

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

3. After he can no longer spend time with his friends, where does Rip start going to spend time away from his home and farm?
(a) The barn.
(b) The woods.
(c) The seashore.
(d) The river.

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

5. Who is "Dame" Van Winkle?
(a) Rip's daughter.
(b) Rip's sister.
(c) Rip's wife.
(d) Rip's mother.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the frame narrative, the reader is told that the main story's narrator gets his information from the wives of the "burghers" (28). Whose wives are these?

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

3. Where is the village that Rip lives in?

4. Who is Peter Stuyvesant?

5. How does Rip's wife treat his dog?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the condition of Rip's children.

2. Describe the contents of the story's epigraph and tell how this relates to the frame narrative.

3. What do Rip and his friends do when they gather together outside the village inn, and how does this characterize Rip?

4. Explain the relationship of Washington Irving, Diedrich Knickerbocker, and Geoffrey Crayon.

5. What relationship does Rip have with the village children, and how does it characterize him?

6. How is the setting of the Catskills described?

7. Describe the condition of Rip's home and farm.

8. Describe the relationship between Rip and his wife.

9. Explain what the frame narrative says about the historian who recorded Rip's story--where does his work come from, and how reliable is it?

10. Describe how Rip's relationship with the dog contrasts with his wife's relationship with the dog.

(see the answer keys)

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