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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. When Equiano gets the opportunity to sail away with Farmer's ship, what does he do?

2. When Equiano is sick in London, what treatment does the doctor recommend that Equiano refuses?

3. After the battle at Gibraltar, what happens to Pascal?

4. How does Equiano describe the living conditions of most slaves in the West Indies?

5. What sign is used to mark an Embrenche?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is John Mondle and what is his significance?

2. Why do you think Farmer wants to help Equiano?

3. Why does Equiano learn navigation but then not use his new skills when he has the opportunity to escape on Farmer's ship?

4. Describe Captain Doran's personality.

5. According to Equiano, what is slavery in the West Indies like?

6. Discuss the significance of King's promise to make Equiano a clerk.

7. Explain the argument Equiano makes to prove that Africans are related to Europeans.

8. Based on Equiano's descriptions of his experience as an African slave, would you say that system of slavery seems to match what Equiano told the reader about it in Chapter 1?

9. List two important concepts in Eboe religion, as Equiano describes it.

10. After Pascal sells him to a new owner, how does Equiano deal with the disappointment?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast John Annis's life with Equiano's. Could Equiano have met a fate like Annis's? What enables Equiano to avoid a sad end like Annis's? Be sure to identify the turning points during Equiano's life when things might have gone differently and set him on a course more like Annis's, and explain how Equiano avoided those dangers.

Essay Topic 2

Historians are not certain that the details of Equiano's early life as described in the Narrative are completely accurate. In fact, many historians believe that Equiano was not born in Africa but was, instead, born a slave in North or South Carolina. Write an essay in which you explain what difference it would make to a reader's response to the book if Equiano fictionalized the details of his early life. Consider, as well, what Equiano's motivations for fictionalizing might have been.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the importance and role of literacy in Equiano's life as described throughout The Interesting Narrative.

(see the answer keys)

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