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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Sarny describe Mammy putting her head into in order to pray in Chapter 2?
(a) A fireplace.
(b) A holy veil.
(c) A cooking pot.
(d) A burlap sack.

2. What does Sarny enjoy doing every evening after the slaves eat?
(a) Drawing pictures in the sand in the chicken shed.
(b) Laying in bed thinking about what she's learned.
(c) Singing songs that she learned in church.
(d) Playing a harmonica that she found in town.

3. When did the U.S. Congress outlaw the importation of slaves?
(a) January 1, 1808.
(b) April 12, 1799.
(c) March 26, 1865.
(d) July 7, 1800.

4. How much money does Mrs. Waller say that her husband just spent on a new hand in Chapter 2?
(a) Under $100.
(b) About $10,000.
(c) About $500.
(d) Over $1,000.

5. Sarny says of Mammy in Chapter 2, "She swore they could hear like cats up to the big house..." What literary device is used in this example?
(a) Onomatopoeia.
(b) Simile.
(c) Allusion.
(d) Alliteration.

Short Answer Questions

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

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

3. What does John call out for from the slaves in the sleeping quarters on his first night at the plantation in Chapter 3?

4. What is the name of Mrs. Waller's sister?

5. Sarny states at the end of Chapter 2 that she knows the "people in the white house aren't richer" than whom?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Sarny's character introduced to the reader in Chapter 1? What does Sarny say brought Nightjohn to her?

2. How would you describe the tone and mood of the novel as established in Chapter 1?

3. How would you describe the dialect and language style established in Chapter 1?

4. What is the trade that John offers to make with Sarny in Chapter 3? How does Sarny feel about the offer?

5. How would you describe the narrator of the story? Is the narrator directly involved in the action of the narrative?

6. What job or jobs does Sarny do around the plantation in Chapter 1?

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

8. How does the author illustrate Sarny's only encounter with money in Chapter 2?

9. When is the first time that Sarny describes hearing the word "free" in Chapter 2? What were her perceptions of this word?

10. What is foreshadowed by Sarny's description of the penny that she once found in Chapter 2?

(see the answer keys)

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