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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. Tom agrees to become a usurer. What job is he saying he will do?
(a) He will loan money at high interest rates.
(b) He will invest money on behalf of other people.
(c) He will buy and sell land.
(d) He will become a landlord.

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

3. When the narrator says that Tom has built his house out of ostentation, what does this mean Tom's motive was?
(a) To show off.
(b) To intimidate his neighbors.
(c) To fill a necessary purpose.
(d) To glorify the devil.

4. What does the narrator say that savin trees symbolize?
(a) Anger.
(b) Greed.
(c) Hypocrisy.
(d) Sterility.

5. 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 becomes an eager church-goer.
(c) He moves to another town.
(d) He offers the devil a different soul in place of his own.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Tom begin keeping on the desk in his office?

2. What does Tom see at the base of the tree where the apron hangs?

3. When Tom opens the apron, what does he find inside?

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

5. What is unusual about the house that Tom builds with the money he earns?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How does the narrator add to the credibility of the story by mentioning the various possible fates of Tom's wife?

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

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

5. What does Tom find in the mud of the swamp, and why does the narrator describe it as a memento?

6. Describe the setting where Tom meets the devil.

7. How does Tom ultimately slip up and get captured by the devil?

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

9. What things does the devil say he supervises on earth?

10. What is the reaction of the Walkers' neighbors to their fighting?

(see the answer keys)

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