View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How did the raft that Solomon built for William Ford's lumber transporting business benefit Ford?

2. How did Merrill Brown and Abram Hamilton treat Solomon while traveling to New York?

3. In what order did the events listed take place in Solomon's life?

4. If William Ford was a wealthy plantation owner, how did he manage to get into financial trouble?

5. In one word, how could William Ford's overseer, Chapin be described?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Solomon prove to be a resourceful type of person for his master, William Ford in Chapter 7 of the book?

2. In Chapter 7 of the book, how was Solomon rewarded after his lumber-transporting efforts prove to be successful in getting William Ford's lumber to its destination a lot faster?

3. In Chapter 1 of his book, how was Author Solomon Northrup able to depict his early years in life as normal?

4. In Chapter 3 of the book, what type of role did Jacob Brooks play in the life of Eliza?

5. In Chapter 6 of the book, what type of slave did Freeman's customers want to buy?

6. In Chapter 7 of the book, how was Solomon's new master, John M. Tibeats different from William Ford?

7. How was the slaves' departure from Washington City carried out in Chapter 4 of the book?

8. In Chapter 10 of the story, why did Solomon fear for his life during his trek through the Great Pacoudrie Swamp?

9. How did Solomon improve his life in Chapter 1 of the book?

10. In the opening Chapter of the book, what did Solomon Northrup acknowledge as a contributing factor in his decision to write his book?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northrup, male slave owners and dealers forced cruel and harsh punishment upon male slaves in direct ways. Punishment however, was not limited to male upon male. Acting discreetly and indirectly, female slave owners also managed to force cruel and harsh punishment upon female slaves.

Choose two women from the book whose lives included events of the type described in the preceding sentence. Who was punished? Who forced punishment upon her? How was her punishment carried out? Why was she punished? Was her punishment reasonable? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

When introduced to the reader, Eliza was an elegant and confident lady. She was well-dressed in silks and jewelry, envisioning a life in freedom for herself and her children; and could not understand why she was standing in Williams’ Slave Pen in Washington City. Within a short period of time however, a very changed and different Eliza came into view.

What were the changes that took place in Eliza? Detail the changes. Were there any events that took place in the life of Eliza that triggered those changes? If yes, detail the event(s). If no, detail any other factor(s) that caused Eliza to change.

Essay Topic 3

Solomon said that he understood why a religious man like William Ford could be religious and yet own slaves at the same time. He stated that the environment that Mr. Ford had been raised in, had led him to believe that owning another man was normal and acceptable.

Taking into consideration the way that William Ford operated -- he owned slaves, but gave them Bibles, explain why either his practice of religion or his practice of owning slaves appeared to be more important to him. Be sure to include reasons in support for the selection that you make.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 999 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample