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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. What is unusual about the house that Tom builds with the money he earns?
(a) It is in the middle of the swamp.
(b) It is made from rotted timber.
(c) It is mostly unfinished and has little furniture.
(d) It contains an alter to the devil.

2. Which of the following does the devil say is the name he goes by in their area?
(a) Lucifer.
(b) The Blacksmith.
(c) Beelzebub.
(d) The Black Woodsman.

3. What does Tom refuse to do with the money?
(a) Run for office.
(b) Open a church.
(c) Purchase a commission in the military.
(d) Become a slave trader.

4. Why does it take Tom a long time to get through the swamp?
(a) The devil is slowing him down.
(b) He is avoiding going home to his wife.
(c) He has to be very careful walking.
(d) He is searching for the treasure.

5. When Tom opens the apron, what does he find inside?
(a) Valuable silver.
(b) His wife's heart and liver.
(c) Gold coins.
(d) A skull.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is financial speculation?

2. What can a reader infer is one of the devil's conditions in the bargain he makes with Tom?

3. What does Tom notice about the tallest trees in the swamp?

4. What is one unusual physical feature of the devil?

5. What does the countryman say he saw happen to Tom Walker?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Tom's wife react to his news, and what is his response to her?

2. What does Tom's wife do as a result of his refusal to make a deal with the devil, and what is the outcome?

3. What are some of the details of the plants and animals in the swamp, and what do they signify?

4. Before Tom and the devil part, how does the devil seal his side of the bargain and what does this allude to?

5. Describe the setting where Tom meets the devil.

6. What does Tom believe is in the apron, and how does he feel when he sees it?

7. Who is the guardian of William Kidd's treasure, and why?

8. What recent events lead to Tom's business being so successful?

9. What implicit racism is there in the description of the fort that once stood in the swamp?

10. Why is the death of Absolom Crowninshield announced as the death of a great man in Israel when he actually died in Massachusetts?

(see the answer keys)

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