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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 is the last letter that John introduces Sarny to in Chapter 4?

2. Where does Waller spend the day while Mammy is shackled to the spring house in Chapter 5?

3. Who were the people that captured John after he'd fled?

4. Sarny compares the sound of "the north" to listening to what sounds in Chapter 4?

5. Where did Pawley find a girl he liked, according to Sarny's story in Chapter 4?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Mammy respond when Sarny runs to her at the spring house in Chapter 5?

2. How is Alice described in the beginning of Chapter 4? What is Sarny's relationship like with Alice?

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

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

5. What happens after Alice's whipping in Chapter 4? How are Alice's wounds treated?

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

7. How was Pawley's disappearance discovered by Waller, according to Sarny in Chapter 4? Why was Pawley off the plantation?

8. What element of the novel's plot structure is seen in Chapter 5?

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

10. What causes Master Waller to send Old Delie to the spring house in Chapter 5?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How is slave life described in the novel? List at least five ways in which Waller ensures that his slaves are stripped of their freedom. Which seems most invasive to you? Why? What freedom(s) would you most miss if you lost your freedoms today?

Essay Topic 2

Analyze the poetic elements seen in “Words.” Develop a chart that indicates examples in this chapter of repetition, assonance, alliteration, rhyme, meter, symbolism, metaphor, etc. Why do you think that this chapter differs from the others in its narrative style? What does this change indicate?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the author’s depictions of violence and sexual assault in Nightjohn. What do you think is the importance of including these details of slave existence? Would the novel be as effective without its depictions of violence and abuse? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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