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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 does Seth say was Martha's job, when Bynum first came to the rooming house?

2. How much time has passed between the end of Act 1, Scene 2 and the beginning of Act 1, Scene 3?

3. Why does Selig say he can't find Bynum's "shiny man"?

4. Why does Zonia say she and her father have to find her mother?

5. How does Bynum say that Seth looks?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the metaphor that Bynum tells to Jeremy to teach him about relationships.

2. What is Loomis' reaction to Seth's demand on him?

3. Describe Bertha's attitude toward Herald Loomis.

4. What is Seth's opinion of Bynum's behavior with Loomis after the Juba?

5. What does Molly say about her father?

6. Why does Seth say he wants Jeremy to get his guitar?

7. How does Jeremy and Mattie's relationship progress?

8. What does Bynum say he can see on people?

9. To what does Seth attribute Selig's ability to find people?

10. What is Seth's attitude to the black men coming to the city to find work and freedom?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss one's responsibility to one's self and to others in the play.

1) What responsibility does Martha have to Herald after he is enslaved? Is she wrong to leave, instead of waiting for him indefinitely?

2) What responsibility does Herald have toward Martha? Does he fulfill his responsibilities?

3) Is it more important in the play to live for one's self, as Molly seems to, or to live for others, as Mattie seems to?

Essay Topic 2

Throughout the play, there are forces that bind people and forces that tear people apart. Discuss these forces.

1) What types of things bind people to each other and to places and lives in the play? Are these things good or bad, or are some good and some bad? How do negative binding forces (like the chains of slavery) affect the other things that bind people together or to elements of their lives?

2) What types of things tear people apart in the play? Are these things good or bad, or are some good and some bad? What role might tearing apart have in building identity?

Essay Topic 3

Though black slaves have been freed, the characters in the play still experience oppression. Discuss oppression in the play.

1) How is Jeremy oppressed, both when he is arrested and when he is fired from his job? What forces make this oppression possible?

2) Does Seth experience oppression or prejudice? Does his lack of backing in his metalworking plan and his relationship with Selig indicate any prejudice?

3) Is Bertha's story of how Selig makes money finding people credible? What significance does it have?

4) What forces in society lead to oppression of the characters in the story?

(see the answer keys)

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