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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 circumstances allowed Solomon Northrup to be born a free man?

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

3. If Solomon should have been paying attention to anything that was happening while he traveled with Brown and Hamilton that may have been a clear indicator that things may not really be the way that they appeared to be, what should it have been?

4. Realistically, what did Solomon's owner, John M. Tibeats consider him to be?

5. Why did Tibeats not attack Ford when Ford confronted him about his mistreatment of Solomon?

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 6 of the book, who suffered during the sale conducted at Freeman's Pen?

3. In Chapter 2 of the book, why did Solomon decide to leave Saratoga Springs and head for New York?

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

5. What lead Solomon to believe that he could consider Merrill Brown and Abram Hamilton to be friends of his in Chapter 2 of the book?

6. 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?

7. In Chapter 7 of the book, what set William Ford apart from the way that other slave owners treated their slaves?

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

9. What was Solomon's first impression of Eliza in Chapter 3 of the book?

10. In Chapter 7 of the book, how could Solomon's new master, William Ford be characterized?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Bayou Bœuf slave owner, William Ford was in the business of selling lumber; and Edwin Epps was in the business of selling cotton.

Explain: Between both men, who was richer? Ford? Or Epps? What made one richer than the other? The type of business that they were in? The way that they treated their help? Was one better at negotiating price than the other? Did religion play any part in one being richer than the other? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Led into Washington City by white men who claimed to have their best interest and freedom status in mind, Solomon and Eliza raised questions in anger regarding the true motives of the men who had led them into the clutches of slavery.

What were some of the reasons that Solomon felt that he could trust the white men who had led him into Washington City? Were there any circumstances or early indicators that he should have taken heed not to trust them? If yes, what were those indicators? If no, why not?

What were some of the reasons that Eliza felt that she could trust the white man who had led her into Washington City? Were there any circumstances or early indicators that she should pay attention to and not trust him? Is yes, what were those indicators? If no, why not?

Essay Topic 3

From time to time, Solomon planned to escape from the clutches of slavery, and sought out ways to carry it out in a physical sense. Even with the help of others, none of the ways that Solomon encountered resulted in placing a physical escape within his reach. Within his reach however, was Solomon’s violin, that provided other avenues of escape for him as a human being. Select an instance in the book in which Solomon reached for his violin for escape from his misery, and discuss how such escape type(s) were carried out, the duration of such type escape(s), and their overall effectiveness in helping Solomon feel better.

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