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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. After a trip to the West Indies in 1771, what profession does Equiano follow for about two years, before going back to sea?

2. What happens to the first season of crops at Dr. Irving's plantation?

3. Whose sermon helps Equiano understand what is required for salvation?

4. What happens to the bulls on Farmer's last voyage?

5. What prevents Mulgrave's expedition from achieving its goal?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Is there an implicit argument being made in Equiano's description of the time he spent in Turkey?

4. Describe Equiano's trip to New York and Philadelphia in 1784.

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

6. Why does Equiano choose to go with Dr. Irving to start a plantation in Jamaica?

7. How are Equiano and Farmer each characterized by the incident with the bulls and the turkeys?

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

9. Explain Equiano's economic argument for ending slavery.

10. What is the significance of Equiano's encounter with Hughes?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

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 3

Equiano's narrative includes many different kinds of travel, from his forced travel as a slave to travel for commercial purposes to exploratory travel. Compare the different kinds of travel Equiano describes, making sure to cover all the categories of travel you identify and to use examples from as many different voyages in the book as possible.

(see the answer keys)

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