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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 Jebediah step on that causes an infection in his foot?

2. Who are the majority of the employees at the hotel/restaurant/saloon that Alice, Priscilla, and James own in Washington, D.C.?

3. Who believes Fern and her husband continue to owe four hundred and fifty dollars?

4. What profession does Saskia's husband force her into, first in Philadelphia, and later, North Carolina?

5. What fate lies ahead of Jebediah when it is discovered he has forged his freedom papers?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does John Skiffington get killed?

2. Who is pressuring Skiffington to find Caldonia's missing slaves and what temptation is adding to Skiffington's stress?

3. Why does Skiffington go to Mildred's house looking for Moses.

4. Why does Moses force his way into Caldonia's house? What does he demand to know?

5. As Skiffington begins to investigate the disappearance of Moses' family and Alice, what does he begin to suspect?

6. How does Mildred get killed?

7. What does Caldonia buy for her slaves that she earlier rejected but now sees as an asset.

8. Why does a man named Hiram Jenkins want to kill Counsel after offering him shelter and food the night before?

9. How is Augustus killed?

10. Why does Mildred not immediately report her husband missing when he does not return home from a business trip?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Augustus and Mildred Townsend. How do they feel about slavery? From where do their opinions come? Why do they disapprove of their son's decision to own slaves? What happens when they learn of this decision? Why do Augustus and Mildred stay in the slave quarters when they visit their son? Why do they not stay in the house? Why are they not proud of their son's achievements? Should they be?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss one of the following themes from the novel:

1) Friendship

2) Slavery

3) Freed Slaves Owning Slaves

4) Extramarital Affairs

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Counsel Skiffington. Who is Counsel? What happens to Counsel's family? Where does Counsel go after this? Why? What happens to Counsel on his journey? What is unusual about these events? How does Counsel respond? Where does Counsel eventually settle? Why? How does Counsel perform at his new job? Is his reaction to pleas for help from the black community favorable? How does this reaction reflect Counsel's personal opinion of blacks? Why does Counsel kill his cousin?

(see the answer keys)

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