The Devil & Tom Walker

What is the story’s setting?

• A Midwestern frontier pine forest, circa 1608

• The New Orleans, Louisiana, riverfront, circa 1680

• A forest near Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1727

• A pond deep in the Maine forest, circa 1850

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Tom Walker might best be described as

• having been beaten down by bad luck

• basically kind but misunderstood

• crafty but very lazy

• stingy and cruel but courageous

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Tom Walker’s wife is best described as

• very generous and much loved by her neighbors

• kind toward her husband, but cruel to others

• yearning for companionship

• a fierce shrew, always nagging and yelling

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In this story the woods are used to symbolize —

• evil

• goodness

• isolation

• greed

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Which of the following phrases is an example of Irving’s use of humor?

• “Tom consoled himself for the loss of his property, with the loss of his wife, for he was a man of fortitude.”

• “He knows how to play his cards when pretty sure of his game.”

• “He insisted that the money found through his means should be employed in his service.”

• “ ‘You shall extort bonds, foreclose mortgages, drive the merchants to bankruptcy—.’ ”

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What does Irving use to symbolize hypocrisy and hidden evil?

• The devil’s deal with Tom

• Mrs. Walker’s heart and liver, wrapped in the checked apron

• The flourishing trees that are rotten to the core

• The Walkers’ silver teapots and spoons

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What enabled you to predict that the figure that appears to Tom in the forest is the devil?

• He appears when Tom kicks the skull.

• He has large red eyes.

• He has a hoarse, growling voice.

• Tom is instantly frightened.

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Tom’s wife decides to go into the forest because she —

• wants to escape from Tom’s unkindness

• decides to make her own deal with the devil

• gets lost on her way to the market

• wants to pick some herbs and wild mushrooms for their meager meal

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How does Tom die?

• The people he has cheated rise up against him.

• He falls off his horse and gets trampled.

• The devil is tricked by his own words.

• He is killed by Native Americans.

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What happens to Tom Walker’s money at the end of the story?

• It is given to the townspeople.

• The townspeople seize it.

• It goes to Mrs. Walker.

• It turns into cinders and ashes.

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