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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 does Equiano's business go in Philadelphia?

2. How does Equiano describe the living conditions of most slaves in the West Indies?

3. How does the battle in the ocean between the French and the English end?

4. Who spreads a lie about Equiano?

5. What does Equiano's first name, Olaudah, mean?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is it ironic that Equiano goes with Pascal to help him find men to force into military service?

2. What features of the life of the Eboe people as Equiano describes are most interesting or surprising?

3. List two important concepts in Eboe religion, as Equiano describes it.

4. Why do you think Pascal acts the way he does near the end of Chapter 4?

5. Compare Equiano's experiences in Montserrat with his experiences in Philadelphia.

6. What is the effect on the reader of Equiano's emphasis on his early impressions of white people (that they are magic, devils, etc.)?

7. How are King, Equiano, and Famer all characterized by the episode when King threatens to sell Equiano and Farmer persuades him not to do that?

8. Based on Equiano's descriptions of his experience as an African slave, would you say that system of slavery seems to match what Equiano told the reader about it in Chapter 1?

9. In Chapter 3, does being purchased by Pascal seem like a good thing or a bad thing for Equiano?

10. Discuss the significance of Equiano's trip to Philadelphia.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Is Equiano ever in the wrong, ethically, in his description of his own behavior? Write an essay examining the most ethically difficult positions Equiano describes himself facing in the book. Be sure to focus on at least two ethical dilemmas Equiano faces.

Essay Topic 2

Historians are not certain that the details of Equiano's early life as described in the Narrative are completely accurate. In fact, many historians believe that Equiano was not born in Africa but was, instead, born a slave in North or South Carolina. Write an essay in which you explain what difference it would make to a reader's response to the book if Equiano fictionalized the details of his early life. Consider, as well, what Equiano's motivations for fictionalizing might have been.

Essay Topic 3

In Chapter 10, Equiano decides to go to Turkey because the Turks are the most Christ-like people he believes he has met. Based on his descriptions of all the different national and ethnic groups he encounters, explain how he might have come to this conclusion. Is it supported by the information he has presented elsewhere in the book?

(see the answer keys)

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