Day of Tears

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-book review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. What do Pierce’s uneasy feelings about the auction reveal about his character?

A) He is weak like the slave auctioneer says, but he pretends to be strong.

B) He has a strong conscience, but he can easily ignore it for his children.

C) He feels empathy and guilt about his actions, but he thinks there’s no choice.

D) He agrees with his ex-wife about slavery, but he persists in it to spite her.

2. What is the purpose of the passage in Chapter 4 in which Emma silently memorizes her mother’s face and hands as she stands in the kitchen?

A) This scene shows the love and admiration a mother has for her daughter.

B) This scene foreshadows Emma’s sale because this is the last time they will see one another.

C) This emotionally intense scene destroys reader’s perceptions that enslaved people had weak family ties.

D) This emotionally intense scene creates an atmosphere of fear amid the pouring rainstorm.

3. How did Sampson’s behavior after the fire contradict his belief that freedom was bad for Black people?

A) Sampson allowed Mistress Henfield to believe the fire was an accident, which allowed his son Charles to escape.

B) As a young man, Sampson successfully escaped on his own and was only recaptured trying to rescue his son.

C) Sampson accepted Mr. Henry’s offer of help but used it to get his son and grandchild to freedom.

D) Wherever Sampson went in his life, he faithfully and dutifully praised God, and after abolition, he formed his own church.

4. Which literary device is represented by the jovial atmosphere among the slaveholders during the auction that ripped apart the enslaved families’ lives?

A) Deadpan humor

B) Dramatic irony

C) Metaphor

D) Situational irony

5. After Emma gets sold away, why does Sarah insist on sleeping in the slave quarters with Emma’s parents?

A) Will and Mattie remind Sarah of both Emma’s and her mother’s love.

B) Sarah is trying to show herself and others that she has a good heart.

C) Sarah believes that joining them is what her mother would do in that situation.

D) All of the above

6. Sampson believes slavery is good for Black people because they don’t have to struggle for basic needs. Charles feels he must be able to see himself as a man, which he can only do as a free man who cares for himself and his family. What do their two attitudes toward slavery have in common?

A) They both have incorrect definitions of what it means to be a man.

B) They both see their choices as acts of resistance and a means to survive.

C) They both value family and literacy, so they secretly attend school.

D) They both have a dream of freedom that makes them hopeful.

7. How does Joe’s presence on the Henfield plantation provide Emma with comfort?

A) Joe’s love for Emma makes her feel safe.

B) Joe protects Emma from the harsh overseer’s cruelty.

C) Joe brings Emma gifts from the general store.

D) Joe shares memories with Emma that remind her of home.

8. How does Mistress Henfield betray her benevolent image and reveal her cruelty after Emma and the others escape?

A) She petitions for a new law that runaways can be captured in Ohio and returned to slavery.

B) She sets fire to the slave quarters, forcing all the enslaved people to sleep outside.

C) She sells all the enslaved people except Sampson to her notoriously cruel neighbor.

D) She exposes Mr. Henry and has him arrested by local police.

9. Which of Sampson’s behaviors was a form of resistance?

A) Choosing to live with the Henfields instead of staying in Alabama

B) Exposing Mr. Henry as an abolitionist and shutting down his freedom operation

C) Allowing Mistress Henfield to believe he was simple and would never betray her

D) Stealing extra food from the kitchen and taking it to the slave quarters every night

10. Why did Will and Mattie travel to Kentucky when they gained their freedom?

A) To track down Sampson and thank him for saving their daughter

B) To reunite with their daughter Emma and repair their family bond

C) To find Mr. Henry and have him arrested for stealing Emma away

D) To work for Mistress Henfield so they could buy Emma’s freedom

11. What does rain signify to Emma?

A) Impending death and destruction, because her father died in a storm

B) Comfort, because rainy days were the only days she could take a bath

C) Revenge, because she made sure Pierce Butler drowned on the day of the auction

D) Both comfort and tumultuous change, because of the auction and the night of her escape

12. Which word best describes the contradiction between Pierce Butler’s belief that Black people do not cry at slave auctions because they lack refined emotions and the enslaved people’s actual experience?

A) Exposition

B) Irony

C) Metaphor

D) Symbolism

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. What do Frances’s actions on the day of the auction and years later as an adult reveal about her character? What might the author be trying to communicate via Frances’s character?

2. What was the author’s purpose for including the list of names, ages, and prices of the humans sold at the auction?