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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How much money does the dying man turn out to have in his fortune?

2. What sight does Equiano find strange in Turkey?

3. On the ship Nancy in 1766, where does Equiano go and make a lot of money?

4. How does the ship Nancy get wrecked?

5. What do some people say after the problems on the way from New Providence to Georgia?

Short Essay Questions

1. Does the manumission of Equiano seem like a high point to this autobiography?

2. What are the possible conclusions about Equiano's prophetic dream about finding a boat on the return trip from Cadiz?

3. How does his experience of being "born again" change Equiano's attitude toward life?

4. Describe Equiano's trip to New York and Philadelphia in 1784.

5. How does the trip to the North Pole develop Equiano's characterization?

6. Is there an implicit argument being made in Equiano's description of the time he spent in Turkey?

7. Why do you think Equiano goes back and forth so much between going to sea and other ways of making a living, like hairdressing?

8. How does the episode in which Phillips's crew see a flock of flamingos characterize the crew?

9. Is Equiano's encounter with Pascal when he returns to England the way you expected it to be?

10. What three elements of Equiano's visit with the fisherman help him decide to become a Christian?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Equiano's life story exposed him to many different cultures. His book explores African culture, English culture, plantation culture, maritime culture, military culture, and religious culture, among others. Select three different cultural or subcultural groups that Equiano describes and compare and contrast them.

Essay Topic 2

The word "interesting" as used in the title of The Interesting Narrative would have had at least two meanings for eighteenth-century readers. "Interesting" would have meant, as it still does today, something like "entertaining" or at least "not boring." In addition, "interesting" would have meant something like "sympathetic." In other words, it would have meant that the narrative was likely to make the readers "interested in" or sympathetic to Equiano. Based on the title, then, the autobiography has the dual goals of entertaining the reader and making the reader sympathize with the author. How well does the book achieve these two goals?

Essay Topic 3

Compare Equiano's relationships with each of the people who "own" him, being sure to consider the overall character of the relationship, the way in which Equiano's relationship with each owner did or did not help Equiano to put forward any of his own goals, and the ways in which the relationship with each owner began and ended.

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