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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 term refers to efforts toward procuring economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranchised group?

2. 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?"

3. Why does Mammy pray in the manner that she does?

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

5. What term refers to the movement to end slavery?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is John's appearance described when he first arrives at the plantation in Chapter 3?

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

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

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

5. How does Sarny describe the process of meals for the slaves at the plantation in Chapter 3?

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

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

8. How does the author describe the regulations and rules regarding slaves and religion in Chapter 2?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the meaning and the value of money as seen through Sarny’s eyes in Nightjohn. What does Sarny remark about the monetary value that her mother brought for Waller? How does this perception of people as having a monetary value impact Sarny’s view of the world around her? What negative impacts might this outlook cause in a person’s self worth?

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

Describe and discuss the history, formation, and influences of pit schools in the American South during the era of slavery. What impact do you think that these schools had on the abolition of slavery in the United States? Why is it important to understand this history?

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