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

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

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

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

5. In the epigraph from Cartwright's play, to whom does the speaker swear that he will be honest?
(a) The Christian God.
(b) The Celtic god, Alator.
(c) The Saxon god, Woden.
(d) The Norse god, Odin.

Short Answer Questions

1. How might Rip's house be described?

2. What is true of Rip's children in the beginning of the story?

3. 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?

4. When on page 31, the narrator refers to Rip's wife's nagging as a "torrent of household eloquence," what tone is created?

5. 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?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Describe the relationship between Rip and his wife.

3. How is the setting of the Catskills described?

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

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

6. 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?

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

8. Describe the condition of Rip's children.

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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