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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 Moses force a sick slave to work in the fields despite protest from this person's family and friends?

2. Why does Skiffington count Oden and his testimony for Travis about Augustus as that of only half a man?

3. What plantation does Saskia come to live on?

4. Why does Caldonia begin making silent visits to the slave quarters every night?

5. What unique problem does the arrest of Jebediah present for Sheriff Skiffington?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Moses encourages Alice, his wife, and son to run away?

2. Who comes to Manchester County and takes a job as a deputy with the sheriff's office? Why?

3. How does Mildred get killed?

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

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

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

7. Why does Saskia Wilhelm's husband force her into prostitution? Where does Saskia end up?

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

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 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 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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