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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Quiz

Context

Plot Overview

Character List

Analysis of Major Characters

Themes, Motifs & Symbols

Preface by William Lloyd Garrison & Letter from Wendell Phillips

Chapter X (continued)

Chapter XI & Appendix

Important Quotations Explained

Key Facts

Study Questions & Essay Topics

Quiz

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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass

Quiz

1. Why does Douglass have no knowledge of his birth date?

(A) A fire destroyed the records

(B) His mother died when he was young

(D) He left his personal records behind when he escaped

2. What is Douglass's probable father's name?

(A) Colonel Lloyd

(B) Ned

(D) Thomas Auld

3. Why do children of a slave-owning father and slave mother have the worst lot of the slaves?

(A) They must face the cruel wrath of the slave-owner's wife

(B) They are assigned field work

(D) They are taken from their mothers

4. What event does Douglass connect with his introduction to the horrors of slavery?

(A) His birth

(B) Captain Anthony's whipping of AUnt Hester

(D) Learning to read

5. What do Colonel Lloyd's slaves call the plantation on which Douglass grows up?

(A) Wye Town

(B) Great House Farm

(D) Talbot

6. Which of the following is not what Douglass interprets slave songs to be?

(A) Prayers to God

(B) Calls to action

(D) Expressions of anguish

7. Which of the following is not one of the overseers under whom Douglass grows up?

(A) Mr. Severe

(B) Mr. Hopkins

(D) Mr. Auld

8. What is Douglass's main point about Gore shooting Demby?

(A) Gore acts irrationally

(B) Gore isoverly cruel

(D) Gore thinks Demby is trying to escape

9. Which of the following is not a reason Douglass is happy about the prospect of moving to Baltimore?

(A) The Aulds are described as a kind couple

(B) His cousin has described Baltimore as beautiful

(D) He is given a pair of trousers for the move

10. What is the reason for Sophia Auld's transformation?

(A) She becomes lazy when Douglass is around to do her work for her

(B) She becomes cruel with the irresponsible power of owning another person

(D) She senses that Douglass is becoming smarter than her son, Thomas

11. Why is Douglass grateful that Hugh Auld orders Douglass's reading lessons stopped?

(A) Douglass does not like his reading lessons

(B) Auld unwittingly gives Douglass the key to escape slavery

(D) Douglass already knows how to read

12. Why does Douglass believe that city slaveholders are usually less cruel than rural slaveholders?

(A) They have no fields in which to work their slaves

(B) They are conscious of the disapproval of their non-slaveholding neighbors

(D) They are more aware that their slaves can escape

13. Which of the following is not one of Douglass's sources for learning how to read and write?

(A) Neighborhood boys

(B) Thomas Auld's copybook

(D) Two Irish dockworkers

14. What does Douglass gain from The Columbian Orator?

(A) A plan for escape

(B) The meaning of “chattel”

(D) A sense of community

15. From what source does Douglass learn the meaning of “abolition”?

(A) A newspaper

(B) A dictionary

(D) Two Irish dockworkers

16. Why does Douglass move from Baltimore to Thomas Auld's?

(A) Because Douglass tries to escape

(B) Because Auld wants to punish his brother, Hugh

(D) Because Douglass's original owner has died

17. What is Thomas Auld's main offense as a slaveholder?

(A) Killing slaves

(B) Fathering slave children

(D) Overworking his slaves

18. Why do the slaves call Covey “the snake”?

(A) Because he is evil

(B) Because he surprises them by sneaking through the tall grass

(D) Because his whip resembles a snake

19. In what regard is Douglass's August confrontation with Covey a turning point?

(A) Douglass realizes he could escape

(B) Douglass fights back against Covey

(D) Douglass proves Covey a coward

20. What service does Douglass offer his fellow slaves at William Freeland's?

(A) Religious education

(B) A means of escape

(D) Writing letters for them

21. What happens to Douglass and the others when their escape plan is betrayed?

(A) They are sold

(B) They are split up

(D) They are sent to Baltimore

22. Why do Douglass's fellow apprentices at the Baltimore shipyard attack him?

(A) They thought he stole from them

(B) They were fearful of black workers taking their jobs

(D) For no apparent reason

23. How does Douglass get enough money to escape?

(A) He hires out his time and saved money slowly

(B) Hugh Auld gives him money

(D) He borrows from his fiancée

24. Who helps Douglass in New York City?

(A) No one

(B) Ruggles

(D) Frederick Johnson

25. Why is Douglass surprised by New Bedford?

(A) He has been led to believe that the North is poverty-stricken

(B) He did not know it was a shipping town

(D) He was not expecting to get work

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Literary Terms

African American History