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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 Eva is alone in her room, why does Eva cut her hair?

2. At the end of the slave auction, what does Legree promise to give Emmeline if she "is a good girl?"

3. What illness has Tom Lokar been laid up with for three weeks?

4. Who greets Eliza with the words, "darling, I'm your mother!"

5. At the beginning of Chapter 41, who dies on the Shelby plantation?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are the similarities between Aunt Chloe And Mrs. Shelby which are emphasized?

2. How does the author use color and/or physical characteristics to symbolize the difference between Augustine and his daughter, Eva, and Alfred and his son, Henrique?

3. What does the death of Augustine emphasize about the lives and futures of their slaves?

4. Why is Cassy a key character in through whom Stowe explores Simon Legree's temperament and treatment of slaves?

5. How does the language of Eliza and George's escape to freedom reflect the mood of this journey--"The blue waves of Lake Erie danced, rippling and sparkling in the sunlight. A fresh breeze blew from the shore, and the lordly boat ploughed her way right gallantly onward."

6. Why might Simon Legree "secretly dislike" Tom and why was it so important for him to get Tom to whip a person?

7. How do the physical descriptions of Simon Legree himself and his plantation symbolize his character?

8. Explain how the following passage is foreshadowing: "the rays of the sun formed a kind of glory behind her [Eva], as she came forward in her white dress, with her golden hair and glowing cheeks, her eyes unnaturally bright..."

9. How is Cassy and Emmeline's "escape" from Legree bittersweet?

10. Why might Stowe have had the significant black characters who are now free end up going to Africa to do missionary work?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the characters that most embody love and why this theme of love is so important to an anti-slavery novel.

Essay Topic 2

One of the necessary components of a tragic hero is that he dies. In Uncle Tom's Cabin, Tom dies. If the reader accepts that Tom is a hero, what other qualities of a hero does Tom exemplify?

Conversely, you may decide that Tom is not a hero. If so, refer to specific incidents or quotations that support your view.

Essay Topic 3

Harriet Beecher Stowe was a female writer who was vehemently against slavery. Discuss the female characters, both black and white, whom she created to "speak" for her cause and evaluate how effectively Stowe used each of these female characters furthered the thinking against slavery.

(see the answer keys)

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