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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 does Equiano become convinced is necessary for salvation?

2. Once they are on the desert island, what does the crew do for food?

3. When Irving and Equiano start their plantation, what happens to the boat they send off to trade?

4. What other new skills does Equiano study in England?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the trip to the North Pole develop Equiano's characterization?

2. 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?

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

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

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. How does the episode in which Phillips's crew see a flock of flamingos characterize the crew?

7. Why does the episode with John Annis affect Equiano's quest for a religion?

8. How does his experience of being "born again" change Equiano's attitude toward life?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Since The Interesting Narrative follows Equiano from childhood to adulthood, it is a story of a boy growing up as well as of a man seeking freedom and a spiritual home. How is Equiano's transition from childhood to adulthood affected by the fact that he is taken into slavery as an adolescent boy? How does the book show readers that transition?

Essay Topic 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

Although it is true that most of the eighteenth-century readers of The Interesting Narrative would have been white and English, Equiano was certainly not the only former slave who had the ability to read and write English. While his black readers would have been a relatively small group, it is still worth considering how they would have responded to the book. Consider the book from beginning to end in terms of how you think someone with a life experience similar to Equiano's in some respects would have been likely to respond to it. Be sure to consider the many different aspects of the book, including Equiano's work as a sailor, his quest for freedom, his spiritual quest, and his work on the Sierra Leone project.

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