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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
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. 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?
3. Who is the frame narrator of "Rip Van Winkle"?
4. Which nation controls New York at the time when Rip and the village are introduced to the reader?
5. When on page 31, the narrator says of Rip that he will "eat white bread or brown," how is Rip being characterized?
Short Essay Questions
1. Describe the contents of the story's epigraph and tell how this relates to the frame narrative.
2. What do Rip and his friends do when they gather together outside the village inn, and how does this characterize Rip?
3. Describe how Rip's relationship with the dog contrasts with his wife's relationship with the dog.
4. What relationship does Rip have with the village children, and how does it characterize him?
5. Describe the relationship between Rip and his wife.
6. Describe the condition of Rip's children.
7. Explain the relationship of Washington Irving, Diedrich Knickerbocker, and Geoffrey Crayon.
8. How is the setting of the Catskills described?
9. Describe the condition of Rip's home and farm.
10. 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?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Write an essay in which you analyze the use of the frame narrative in "Rip Van Winkle." Establish both how Irving employs the frame narrative and what you believe its purpose in this story is. Finally, analyze the impact of this rhetorical choice on Irving's success in conveying his theme. Be sure to offer textual support for your claims.
Essay Topic 2
Analyze Rip's reactions to the episode in the mountains from when he meets the first stranger through his first moments of waking on the morning afterward. Would you say that his behavior in this episode is consistent with his earlier characterization, or not, and why? Be sure to use textual evidence to defend your claims.
Essay Topic 3
Write an analysis of the diction in "Rip Van Winkle." Offer a claim about its character and purpose: consider its elevation, is concreteness, and its connotative aspects. Be sure to offer quoted textual support for your claims.
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This section contains 882 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
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