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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. What major theme of the novel emerges in Chapter 3?

2. How would you describe Sarny's perception of life outside of the plantation in Chapter 2?

3. In Chapter 1, Sarny says that some believed she brought Nightjohn to the plantation by what manner?

4. What does Sarny recall Mammy telling her to do with the coin that she found in the dirt in Chapter 2?

5. To whom does Mammy pray when Sarny witnesses her in Chapter 2?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Sarny describe thinking about as the others sleep in the slave quarters at night in Chapter 1?

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

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

4. How is Sarny's relationship with Mammy illustrated in Chapter 1? How does Mammy feel about the other children she cares for?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the rights, roles, and expectations of women in the 18th and 19th century American South. Examine the responsibilities and roles that a figure such as Margaret Waller would play in her household and plantation. How many “house-slaves” might a family like the Wallers have? What would have been the main contribution of the slave-master’s wife? How did these roles differ for slave women?

Essay Topic 2

Analyze the poetic elements seen in “Words.” Develop a chart that indicates examples in this chapter of repetition, assonance, alliteration, rhyme, meter, symbolism, metaphor, etc. Why do you think that this chapter differs from the others in its narrative style? What does this change indicate?

Essay Topic 3

Describe and analyze the character of Clel Waller in Nightjohn. How old is Clel Waller? How would you describe Sarny’s opinions of Master Waller? How do the other slaves feel about the master? How does Waller’s character evolve in the course of the story?

(see the answer keys)

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