View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where has Sarny observed people reading prior to meeting John?
(a) At the slave market.
(b) In town.
(c) At church.
(d) In the white house.

2. What term refers to efforts toward procuring economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranchised group?
(a) Emancipation.
(b) Eclecticism.
(c) Suffragism.
(d) Abolition.

3. What major theme of the novel emerges in Chapter 3?
(a) Longing and forbidden love.
(b) The pain of betrayal.
(c) The importance of literacy.
(d) Political corruption.

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

5. What kind of work does Sarny say she is not yet old enough to do on the plantation in Chapter 1?
(a) Helping with the young ones.
(b) Field work.
(c) Yard work.
(d) Gathering eggs.

Short Answer Questions

1. In what century was the Atlantic slave established?

2. From what device do Sarny and the other slaves eat their meals at the plantation?

3. What European country was the first to engage in the New World slave trade?

4. What is John's response when Sarny asks him in Chapter 3, "Why they be cutting our thumbs off if we learn to read--if that's all it is?"

5. What is Mrs. Waller's first name?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Sarny's birth and early childhood described in Chapter 1? Are Sarny's experiences common for slaves at this time?

2. What does Sarny overhear from the white house while she works in Chapter 2?

3. What does Mammy measure on the sticks that she keeps for each child on the plantation? Why?

4. What imagery and/or symbolism is used in describing the slaves on the plantation in Chapter 2?

5. How does John behave toward the other slaves after his arrival in Chapter 3?

6. What is significant about the animal imagery that is seen in Chapter 3?

7. What was Mammy's response when she discovered Sarny copying the symbols from the grain sack into the dirt when she was a child? Why did she react in this manner?

8. How does Sarny describe Mammy's method of praying in Chapter 2? Why does Mammy pray this way?

9. What intrigues and inspires Sarny to want to learn to read and write? What risks does she take in doing so?

10. What work is Sarny doing on the plantation in the beginning of Chapter 2? How does she feel about this chore?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,005 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample