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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. Why does Loretta suggest fieldwork be suspended in the aftermath of Henry Townsend's death?

2. What decision does Moses make that angers Caldonia?

3. Who opens the crate and frees Rita after her forty-one hour trip East?

4. What does Maude keep pressuring Caldonia to do in Chapter 6?

5. Why does John Skiffington decide to marry?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Maude Newman's opinion as to what her widowed daughter, Caldonia, should do with her slaves?

2. What is the 'Rita-thing'?

3. Why does John Skiffington decide to get married in 1840?

4. Why does Stamford pick blueberries for a couple of children he sees going out to pick berries in a storm?

5. Who asks Fern to take Henry on as a student? Why?

6. Before Henry is freed, who does he go with Robbins to Richmond to track down and return to Manchester County?

7. What gift are John Skiffington and his wife, Winifred, given at their wedding?

8. What is significant about the fact that Henry Townsend owns slaves?

9. Why do landowners, such as Robbins, become unhappy with Patterson's reign as sheriff in Manchester County?

10. What punishment did Henry demand for Elias after he attempted to run away? Why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Who is Mildred Townsend? Why does Skiffington go to her house to look for Moses? Is Moses there? Why? What happens to Mildred during the search for Moses? Why? Is it an accident? Why is Moses taken into custody? Why is it suggested Moses be hobbled? Is he? By whom? Why? What happens to Moses when he is returned to his plantation? What does this say about Moses' character? What does it say about Celeste's character?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the treatment of slaves in this novel. Who treated the slaves worse, the white plantation owners, the white lawmen, the black slave owners, or the slave overseers? What are the differences between the various treatment of the slaves? Who thought they treated the slaves better? Did they? Why or why not? Is it possible to treat a slave kindly? Should slaves have been freed by their black owners? Is it more morally corrupt for a freed slave to own a slave than a white man who has always been free? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Why does Caldonia begin an affair with Moses? Does Caldonia love Moses? Why or why not? How does learning of Moses' treatment of Celeste affect Caldonia's opinion of Moses? What does Moses do with his family when he begins an affair with Caldonia? Why? What does Skiffington believe Moses has done with his family? Why? Why does Moses barge in on Caldonia and ask why she has not freed him? Why does Moses believe Caldonia should free him? Will she? Why does Moses run away? Where does he go?

(see the answer keys)

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