Kindred

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.

Prologue-Chapter 2

Reading Check

1. What has happened to Dana in the prologue of the book?

2. What happens the first time Dana travels back in time?

3. What is Dana’s relationship to Rufus?

4. What state does Dana travel to when she time travels?

5. What does Dana realize about how she is able to get home?

Multiple Choice

1. Why does Rufus think that Dana is a man at first?

A) She uses a false name.

B) She wears pants.

C) She is travelling alone.

D) She does not speak deferentially to him.

2. What evidence does Dana remember that leads her to the realization of her connection to Rufus Weylin?

A) her genealogy chart

B) her mother’s story of their family history

C) her resemblance to him

D) her grandmother Hagar’s Bible

3. What does the young Rufus demand of Dana that she balks at?

A) that she go work in the fields

B) that she cook him food

C) that she not look him in the eye

D) that she call him master

4. What does Kevin initially think of Dana’s experiences?

A) He thinks she is keeping things from him.

B) He thinks she is having a mental breakdown.

C) He thinks she is hallucinating or dreaming.

D) He thinks she is doing it on purpose.

5. What does Dana realize about her inability to do violence to the man assaulting her?

A) that she is incapable of changing the past

B) that her hesitation doesn’t belong in this time

C) that she cannot become like the violent people she despises

D) that she is inherently a passive person

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What does Dana’s lost arm represent?

2. Why does Dana feel obligated to help Rufus?

3. How does Dana know for sure that she can trust Rufus?

4. How do Dana and Kevin prepare for her to time travel again?

5. What does Dana say her ancestors have that she doesn’t, making her less capable of surviving in their time?

Chapters 3-4

Reading Check

1. What career do Dana and Kevin have in common?

2. What is different about Dana’s third trip back in time?

3. What is significant about Carrie, Sarah’s daughter?

4. Why does Isaac beat Rufus?

5. How does Rufus betray Dana in Chapter 4?

Multiple Choice

1. What is the most significant reason that Sarah hates Tom Weylin?

A) He is violent toward her.

B) He sold her children.

C) He demands things she cannot provide.

D) He coerces her into having sex with him.

2. How does Tom Weylin employ Dana on the plantation?

A) He has her work in the fields.

B) He has her mend clothing.

C) He has her educate Rufus.

D) He has her serve as Margaret’s personal servant.

3. Why doesn’t Dana’s uncle approve of Kevin?

A) Kevin does not have a stable career.

B) She is putting herself in a position of subservience to him.

C) He wanted her to be independent.

D) He hoped she would marry a Black man.

4. Why has Luke been replaced by Overseer Edwards when Dana returns to the plantation?

A) Luke suffered an injury that made him unable to perform the work.

B) Luke was too free in his ideas and behavior.

C) Luke was too gentle with the other enslaved people.

D) Luke tried to run away.

5. Why does Tom Weylin send for Kevin?

A) because he thinks his son should keep his word

B) because Margaret wants him to get rid of Dana

C) because he is tired of Dana’s insubordination

D) because Rufus likes Dana too much

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Margaret antagonize Dana so much?

2. What roles do Kevin and Dana adopt in order to be accepted by the plantation’s community?

3. Why does Tom whip Dana in the incident that sends her back to the present alone?

4. Why does Rufus make Dana burn the book she brought (provide both his stated reason and an underlying goal)?

5. Why is Dana so torn about coercing Alice to be with Rufus?

Chapters 5-6 and Epilogue

Reading Check

1. What is Tom Weylin’s fate?

2. Why does Rufus sell Sam James?

3. What does Dana do in order to go home in Chapter 5?

4. What lie does Rufus tell that leads to Alice’s suicide?

5. What happens to the enslaved people on the plantation after Rufus dies?

Multiple Choice

1. What is the nature of Rufus and Dana’s relationship during her eight-month stay on the plantation?

A) They become friends in a strange way, and he is more lenient with her than with Alice.

B) They have an adversarial relationship, with Dana constantly advocating for the enslaved people.

C) They don’t speak, and Rufus is afraid of what Dana might do to him.

D) He torments her and constantly puts her through dehumanizing situations.

2. What does Rufus have Dana help him with in order to prevent the sale of more enslaved people?

A) increasing the productivity of the plantation

B) writing letters to creditors

C) convincing the enslaved people to be subservient

D) caring for his mother and children

3. What does Kevin think Dana must do once Hagar is born?

A) run away from the Weylin plantation

B) return home by any means

C) kill Rufus

D) help the enslaved people escape

4. Why does Rufus claim he can’t stop the sale of Tess?

A) Tess is too insubordinate.

B) His father, Tom, arranged it before he died.

C) He is reuniting Tess with her family.

D) He is afraid of the buyer’s reputation.

5. What do Kevin and Dana assume happens to Joe and Hagar after Dana returns home for the final time?

A) They escaped into the wilderness and made their way North.

B) They were sold as slaves despite being freed.

C) They went to Baltimore with Margaret.

D) They assumed ownership of the plantation’s remaining assets.

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does Kevin feel about the present when he returns?

2. Why do the other enslaved people on the plantation think Dana is a traitor?

3. Why is Rufus hesitant to free his slaves in his will?

4. Why does Nigel burn down the house at the end of the novel?

5. Why is Dana hesitant to kill Rufus when he tries to force himself on her?