Washington Irving - Rip Van Winkle

Question 1

respected; impressive

Answer 1

august

Question 2

high-pitched and piercing

Answer 2

shrill

Question 3

overly obedient and servile

Answer 3

obsequious

Question 4

an ill-tempered scolding woman

Answer 4

shrew

Question 5

government by women in political or domestic affairs

Answer 5

petticoat government

Question 6

a playful skipping or frolicking about

Answer 6

gambol

Question 7

a small group of persons joined for a common purpose

Answer 7

junto

Question 8

sad, lonely, isolated

Answer 8

forlorn

Question 9

ceased, quit

Answer 9

desisted

Question 10

with intense emotion and passion

Answer 10

vehemently

Question 11

of or relating to marriage

Answer 11

connubial

Question 12

absolute authority, power, or control

Answer 12

despotism

Question 13

lacking good manners or refinement

Answer 13

uncouth

Question 14

severe or strict

Answer 14

austere

Question 15

contentious, argumentative

Answer 15

disputatious

Question 16

How did Rip respond to his wife’s “torrent of household eloquence”?

Answer 16

shrugged his shoulders, shook his head, cast up his eyes, and said nothing

Question 17

When times grew worse for Rip Van Winkle, and he was driven from home by his wife, where would he often go?

Answer 17

to visit with a little group of sages, philosophers, and other idle folk in front of an inn

Question 18

Who does Rip meet on the mountaintop?

Answer 18

mythic, strange, short people with bushy hair and long beards

Question 19

What is Rip’s state of mind and appearance when he wakes?

Answer 19

perplexed, puzzled, confused

Question 20

What major national event did Rip sleep through?

Answer 20

The American Revolution

Question 21

When Rip enters the village, how do things appear to him?

Answer 21

everything appears strange and different

Question 22

Rip goes to live with whom?

Answer 22

his daughter

Question 23

“Happily that was at an end; he got his neck out of the yoke of matrimony, and could go in and out whenever he pleased, without dreading the tyranny of Dame Van Winkle.”

Answer 23

It reveals the Central One Idea of the desire to escape from the tyranny of domestic and marital demands.

Question 24

This story might well be referred to as a story of ___.

Answer 24

initiation

Question 25

How might the group of characters at the inn function as a symbol for a larger idea in the story?

Answer 25

The group of idlers, philosophers, and sages are symbolic for the desire to escape the demands of domestic and civic life.