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Name: _________________________ | Period: ___________________ |
This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. What creatures does Mammy remark upon when Sarny runs to her at the spring house in Chapter 5?
2. What emotion does John's story about his past inspire in Mammy in Chapter 4?
3. What does John ask Sarny to fetch for him from the barn in Chapter 6?
4. Where did Pawley find a girl he liked, according to Sarny's story in Chapter 4?
5. What does Mammy ask John when she sees him teaching Sarny in Chapter 6?
Short Essay Questions
1. What does John teach Sarny in Chapter 6? How does Mammy respond when she observes this exchange?
2. How did Pawley die, according to the story related from Sarny in Chapter 4?
3. How does the relationship between Mammy and John change after John explains his past in Chapter 4?
4. How does Waller discover that Sarny is learning to read and write in Chapter 5? How does he react?
5. Sarny describes two slaves that she has heard of that ran away from Waller's plantation in Chapter 4. What story is related of Jim's attempted escape?
6. How does Sarny describe the circumstances of the slaves in the beginning of Chapter 5?
7. What is foreshadowed in Chapter 6? What does the reader expect to happen based on John's actions?
8. What happens after Alice's whipping in Chapter 4? How are Alice's wounds treated?
9. What are Sarny's perceptions of Alice's whipping when she witnesses it in Chapter 4?
10. How does Mammy respond when Sarny runs to her at the spring house in Chapter 5?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Analyze the character of Sarny as the protagonist and narrator of Nightjohn. How does Sarny describe her role in the story in Chapter 1? What aspects of Sarny’s character stand out for you as a reader? How old is Sarny’s character when she is first introduced? How does Sarny’s character evolve in the course of the story?
Essay Topic 2
Describe and discuss the history, formation, and influences of pit schools in the American South during the era of slavery. What impact do you think that these schools had on the abolition of slavery in the United States? Why is it important to understand this history?
Essay Topic 3
Discuss the language style of Nightjohn. How would you describe the dialect of Sarny’s narrative? How does John’s dialect differ from Sarny’s? How is it similar? How does the language style of the novel help the reader to connect with its themes?
This section contains 967 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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