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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 position does Equiano receive in relationship to the Sierra Leone project?

2. When he decides to buy his freedom, how much money has Equiano saved?

3. Why does Equiano's conversion of the Native American not succeed?

4. What minister does Equiano hear preach in Philadelphia?

5. What boring job does Equiano hold before returning to the sea in 1784?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe and comment on Equiano's experiences with the Sierra Leone settlement.

2. Is Equiano's encounter with Pascal when he returns to England the way you expected it to be?

3. What three elements of Equiano's visit with the fisherman help him decide to become a Christian?

4. Does the manumission of Equiano seem like a high point to this autobiography?

5. Why do you think Equiano goes back and forth so much between going to sea and other ways of making a living, like hairdressing?

6. What are the possible conclusions about Equiano's prophetic dream about finding a boat on the return trip from Cadiz?

7. How does the episode with the silversmith parallel earlier events in The Interesting Narrative?

8. What is the significance of what happens to the bulls and the turkeys before the end of the voyage?

9. When Equiano decides he needs to find a religion to commit to (after his trip to the North Pole), how does he begin his search?

10. How do Equiano's experiences in Georgia reflect on the conditions for free black men in the U.S. South before the Civil War?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The word "interesting" as used in the title of The Interesting Narrative would have had at least two meanings for eighteenth-century readers. "Interesting" would have meant, as it still does today, something like "entertaining" or at least "not boring." In addition, "interesting" would have meant something like "sympathetic." In other words, it would have meant that the narrative was likely to make the readers "interested in" or sympathetic to Equiano. Based on the title, then, the autobiography has the dual goals of entertaining the reader and making the reader sympathize with the author. How well does the book achieve these two goals?

Essay Topic 2

There are several ship wrecks and other dangerous encounters on the seas described in The Interesting Narrative. What is the overall effect of these descriptions on readers? Compare at least two descriptions of danger on the sea to demonstrate the effects each description might have on readers.

Essay Topic 3

Equiano's life story exposed him to many different cultures. His book explores African culture, English culture, plantation culture, maritime culture, military culture, and religious culture, among others. Select three different cultural or subcultural groups that Equiano describes and compare and contrast them.

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