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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. How does Rip's wife treat his dog?
(a) She treats the dog the same way she treats Rip.
(b) She treats the dog better than anyone else in the family.
(c) She ignores the dog completely.
(d) She insists that the dog stay outside and earn its keep on the farm.

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

3. 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.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Who is the author of "Rip Van Winkle"?

3. What is Rip's son's name?

4. When on page 31, the narrator says of Rip that he will "eat white bread or brown," how is Rip being characterized?

5. Which nation controls New York at the time when Rip and the village are introduced to the reader?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. 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?

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

4. Describe the relationship between Rip and his wife.

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

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

7. How is the setting of the Catskills described?

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

9. Describe the condition of Rip's children.

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

(see the answer keys)

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