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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the devil say is one way he currently entertains himself?
(a) By making deals for the souls of Puritans.
(b) By helping the Puritans persecute other Christians.
(c) By tempting anabaptists into sin.
(d) By encouraging war between Natives and Europeans.

2. Whom does the narrator seem to blame for the situation of Tom's clients?
(a) Tom and the devil.
(b) The government and the clients.
(c) The devil and the government.
(d) The clients and Tom.

3. What significant event happened in Massachusetts in 1727?
(a) A fire.
(b) An earthquake.
(c) A flood.
(d) A hurricane.

4. What is the first thing that Tom does in an attempt to escape his bargain with the devil?
(a) He tries unsuccessfully to sell his business.
(b) He offers the devil a different soul in place of his own.
(c) He moves to another town.
(d) He becomes an eager church-goer.

5. What word does the narrator use twice to describe the situation of Tom's clients?
(a) Fortunate.
(b) Desperate.
(c) Dubious.
(d) Unexpected.

6. Why does the pirate not retrieve his treasure?
(a) He converts and does not want ill-gotten treasure.
(b) He is executed.
(c) Someone moves it.
(d) Tom Walker finds it first.

7. What does the narrator say makes it difficult to know what actually happened to Tom's wife?
(a) She disappeared a long time ago.
(b) The whole story is likely to be false.
(c) There are too many stories told by different historians.
(d) No one but Tom seems to have really noticed her disappearance.

8. Why does the narrator say that Tom starts criticizing his neighbors?
(a) They try to point out to him that he is selfish.
(b) Tom thinks that it makes him seem like a better person.
(c) They begin asking him for money.
(d) His panic is making him more and more angry.

9. How does the devil say the Natives sacrificed a white man to him?
(a) They hung him.
(b) They crucified him.
(c) They roasted him.
(d) They chopped off his head.

10. Who is William Kidd?
(a) A prominent citizen of Tom Walker's town.
(b) A sailor accused of being a pirate.
(c) The governor of Massachusetts.
(d) A neighbor of Tom Walker's.

11. Why does the devil say that he has a right to cut wood on this land?
(a) He says that the owner sold it to him.
(b) He says that he owns the soul of its owner.
(c) He says that the entire earth belongs to him.
(d) He says that it belonged to him long before Europeans came to North America.

12. How does Tom treat his most needy clients?
(a) He takes advantage of their need to drive especially hard bargains with them.
(b) He breaks the rules of his bargain with the devil to help them.
(c) He pretends that he will help them, then refuses to do business with them.
(d) He mocks them and is openly rude.

13. What does the narrator compare Tom's clients to?
(a) Children.
(b) Sheep.
(c) Sponges.
(d) Crops.

14. The narrator says that the timing for Tom's business is propitious. What kind of timing would this be?
(a) Unlucky.
(b) Too late to make a difference.
(c) In advance of need.
(d) Favorable.

15. What happens to all of Tom's money and property at the end of the story?
(a) A mysterious man appears, claiming to be Tom's heir.
(b) The town elders donate it to the church.
(c) Everything changes into ash, bone, and wood shavings.
(d) Tom's cheated clients divide it among themselves.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where does Tom open his business?

2. What causes Tom to start to worry about the deal he has made with the devil?

3. Why does Tom decide that he will not agree to the devil's bargain?

4. What is the rumor in town about Absalom Crowninshield?

5. There is a rumor that Tom's wife's hat was found floating on top of what?

(see the answer keys)

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