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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 1.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the author assert about the events in the story at the opening of the novel?
(a) The events in the story are purely from the imagination of the author and not based on any historical people.
(b) The events are true except for variation in time and character identification.
(c) The events in the story are satirical.
(d) The events in the story are loosely based on events that occurred in Cleveland, Mississippi, in 1861.

2. Where does Sarny say she was when she first heard about Nightjohn in Chapter 1?
(a) In the cotton fields.
(b) In the sleeping quarters.
(c) In the barn.
(d) In the flower beds.

3. "Partus sequitur ventrem" was a legal doctrine adopted widely into the laws of slavery in the American colonies. What did this law dictate?
(a) That slaves were forbidden from reading and writing.
(b) That slaves be forbidden from attending church.
(c) That the child of a slave was a slave.
(d) That escaped slaves must be returned to their master.

4. What historical figure "owned, raised, and subsequently used" the slave that the novel is dedicated to by the author?
(a) Robert E. Lee.
(b) Thomas Jefferson.
(c) Theodore Roosevelt.
(d) Benjamin Franklin.

5. What European country was the first to engage in the New World slave trade?
(a) Great Britain.
(b) Spain.
(c) France.
(d) Portugal.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Mr. Waller's first name?

2. Mammy says in Chapter 1 that Sarny's mother sold for the value of how many field hands?

3. What euphemism does Sarny use to describe menstruation in Chapter 1?

4. In whose memory is Nightjohn dedicated by the author in the opening pages?

5. What does Sarny say her last name is in Chapter 1?

(see the answer key)

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