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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Waller punish Mammy after the slaves return from the fields in Chapter 5?
(a) He makes her pull a horse buggy.
(b) He hangs her.
(c) He lets the dogs attack her.
(d) He chops off two of her toes.

2. How far does Sarny say Alice made it before she was caught in Chapter 4?
(a) To the door of the sleeping quarters.
(b) Halfway to Pennsylvania.
(c) The other end of the cotton fields.
(d) To the train station in town.

3. When was the first Fugitive Slave Act implemented in the United States requiring all escaped slaves to be returned to their masters?
(a) 1856.
(b) 1793.
(c) 1865.
(d) 1776.

4. What does Waller say the punishment is "according to the law" for learning to read or write in Chapter 5?
(a) Removal of an extremity.
(b) Hanging.
(c) A prison sentence of five years.
(d) Castration.

5. What description best describes the relationship between Sarny and John in the novel?
(a) Brother/sister.
(b) Mother/son.
(c) Romantic.
(d) Father/daughter.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Mammy do when she first sees John teaching Sarny the letters of the alphabet in Chapter 4?

2. How long does Mammy suggest that John wait before running in order to heal in Chapter 6?

3. What word from Chapter 5 refers to the act of writing or marking carelessly?

4. What does Mammy do after John explains the reasoning behind his motives in Chapter 4?

5. Why does John assert that the slaves must all learn to read and write in Chapter 4?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Sarny describe the first day of John's recovery in Chapter 6?

2. How does Master Waller punish Mammy in Chapter 5? How do the other slaves respond to the abuse?

3. How is John's departure described in Chapter 6? What does Sarny make of John's farewell?

4. How does Waller discover that Sarny is learning to read and write in Chapter 5? How does he react?

5. What leads up to Alice being being whipped by Waller in Chapter 4? How is her whipping described?

6. How does the relationship between Mammy and John change after John explains his past in Chapter 4?

7. What instructions does Mammy give to Sarny while she's at the spring house in Chapter 5?

8. What is the significance of Master Waller's public displays of punishment for the slaves in the novel?

9. What is foreshadowed in Chapter 6? What does the reader expect to happen based on John's actions?

10. How does Sarny describe the circumstances of the slaves in the beginning of Chapter 5?

(see the answer keys)

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