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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. Who is named overseer in the wake of Moses' disappearance?

2. Why was a white woman hanged in Bristol in front of more than three hundred people?

3. Who does Moses think needs to be out of the picture to clear the way for Caldonia to free him and marry him?

4. Who suggests to Caldonia that she buy insurance to cover her slaves?

5. Who is Saskia Wilhelm?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who does Caldonia put in charge of the slaves after Moses runs away?

2. How does John Skiffington get killed?

3. Who buys Jebediah Dickinson upon learning that he is not free, but is a slave owned by a cruel pastor?

4. Why is Jebediah Dickinson arrested? What lie is revealed upon this arrest?

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

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

7. Who does Fern meet on the road as she returns home from consoling Caldonia over her loss for the past five weeks?

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

9. How is Augustus killed?

10. What disease does Saskia Wilhelm contract that she exposes all the people on Counsel's plantation to?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the theme of blacks owning slaves. Why would a black person own slaves? What purpose did the slaves fulfill? What other options did freed slaves have other than owning slaves? Why did some freed slaves choose to own slaves? How did this give them power? How did this change their standing in the community? Were blacks allowed to buy slaves at public auctions? Why or why not? How did freed slaves obtain slaves?

Essay Topic 2

Why is Augustus stopped on the road as he travels home after selling some furniture? Who stops him? What do they ask to see? What do they do with this item? Why? Who comes across this scene? What do these people offer the newcomers? Why is Augustus sold into slavery? Is there a law against this? What is the law? How might it help Augustus? Why does this law not help Augustus at this point?

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?

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