Middle Passage

Reading Check questions are designed for in-class review on key plot points or for quick verbal or written assessments. Multiple Choice and Short Answer Quizzes create ideal summative assessments, and collectively function to convey a sense of the work’s tone and themes.

Epigraphs-Chapter 2

Reading Check

1. Who are the three authors and/or texts quoted in the Epigraphs?

2. What is the most common thing that “drives men to sea”?

3. Where is Rutherford fleeing from?

4. Which of Isadora’s attributes draws Rutherford in the most?

5. Which phrase does Rutherford hear many times in his life, including from Isadora?

6. Why does Isadora pay Rutherford’s debts?

7. What does Rutherford steal from Josiah Squibb?

8. According to Mr. Cringle, what is better than being on a ship?

9. What are the two duties of the sailors on the Republic?

10. What does Cringle tell Rutherford the cargo will consist of?

Multiple Choice

1. Based on the description in Chapter 1, what can best be surmised about Rutherford Calhoun’s character?

A) He is pious and obedient.

B) He is hedonistic and extreme.

C) He is gentle and scholarly.

D) He is angry and aggressive.

2. In Chapter 1, Rutherford reflects upon his time in New Orleans with the following sentiment: “So it seemed those first few months to the country boy with cotton in his hair, a great whore of a city in her glory, a kind of glandular Golden Age.