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. What does the homemade concoction that Sally gives Harriet to cure her ills cause Harriet to do in The Middle of May 1820?

2. While she sits in the kitchen, who tells Harriet that she will most likely be sold when Jefferson dies if she remains at Monticello?

3. What did Harriet want to ask God when she was a small child?

4. Who gives Harriet a potion to help her sleep on the night she is attacked?

5. Who or what does Harriet feel she will be turning her back on by following Randolph's plan for her freedom?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is it unusual that Harriet, a slave, is allowed to use Jefferson's library?

2. What important point does Randolph give Harriet to consider during April 1820?

3. If Harriet stays at Monticello and Jefferson dies, Thruston says the slaves will all be sold to pay Jefferson's debt. What is Thruston's concern for Harriet if this should happen?

4. After Jefferson learns that Bankhead has attacked Harriet, how does he punish Bankhead?

5. After speaking with Thruston about Jefferson's eventual death, what does Harriet realize will happen to her some day, whether she leaves the plantation or not?

6. Why does Mammy Ursula think Harriet should take her freedom even if she doesn't want it?

7. What example does Harriet give to show that people are not always what they seem to be in the section called April 1820?

8. What features does Harriet have that make her different from the other slaves on the plantation?

9. What happens in December 1819 that shows Harriet is more important than the other slaves?

10. What does Jefferson promise Harriet should he die before her 21st birthday?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Sally is a very complex character. She is at once a slave and a lover, a mother and a woman who pushes her children away. She has definite reasons for all of the things she does, yet she doesn't overtly express her reasons. What impact do her contrasting roles have on Harriet's life? What effect does her inability to express her feelings and reasons to her children have on them?

Essay Topic 2

Acceptance is one of the major themes in this book. There are many things Harriet must learn to accept, many ways in which she'd like to be accepted, and many people she'd like to be accepted by. Discuss at least one of each of these ways in which acceptance is portrayed. Explain each and give examples from the book.

Essay Topic 3

What is important about Jefferson's Farm Book? What does it symbolize? What role does it play in the relationship between Harriet and Jefferson? How do its contents come to affect Harriet's final decision to leave Monticello?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 722 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample