"The Devil and Tom Walker" Quiz

Which of these details most clearly suggest that the figure Tom meets is the Devil?

• His voice is hoarse and growling, and his hair is black.
• His eyes are red, and he is covered with soot.
• He is powerfully built and is holding an ax.
• He wears rude, half-Indian garb and is sitting on a tree stump.

What is the “one condition which need not be mentioned, being generally understood in all cases where the Devil grants favors”?

• the Devil’s promising to make Tom rich
• the Devil’s guiding all Tom’s thoughts
• Tom’s giving his soul to the Devil
• Tom’s promising to become a usurer

What is the significance of Tom’s finding most of the tall trees in the forest each “marked with the name of some great man of the colony”?

• The townspeople carved great men’s names on trees.
• Landowners carved their names on trees on their property.
• The men had carved their own names on the trees to ensure their fame.
• Carved onto the trees in the Devil’s forest are the names of those who made a deal with him.

A main lesson of this story is that

• greed and mean-spiritedness lead to misery.
• husbands and wives should love each other.
• prayer can erase all past sins.
• great wealth can never produce happiness.

In what way is Tom Walker a one-dimensional character?

• He has no personality traits.
• He uses other people for his own gain.
• He does not fear the Devil.
• He symbolizes human greed and miserliness.

Tom’s wife is a stereotype of

• a Puritan homemaker.
• a woman of mystery.
• a nagging, shrewish wife.
• a town gossip.

Which of these statements does not apply to an omniscient narrator?

• The narrator stands outside the story.
• The narrator provides the thoughts or feelings of many characters.
• The narrator may comment on events in the story.
• The narrator is a character in the story who refers to himself or herself with the first-person pronoun I.

Which of these statements best demonstrates an omniscient narrator?

• Tom was walking through the forest.
• Tom’s wife was tall and greedy.
• Mrs. Walker hoped that Tom would make the pact, but Tom would not agree, just to spite her.
• As Tom grew older, he began to worry about what would happen after he died.

Which of these observations about the story stems from the use of an omniscient narrator?

• The narrator focuses on Tom’s experiences.
• The narrator never tells us what happened to Tom’s wife.
• The narrator makes clear the motives and desires of Tom and his wife.
• The narrator keeps the Devil shrouded in mystery.

The opening descriptions of the forest suggest that what Tom will find there will be

• treacherous and malignant.
• fortunate and useful.
• hot-tempered and vengeful.
• dull and depressing.