Jubilee Questions
Short Essay Questions on Jubilee by Margaret Walker
Lit. 215 Final
Prof. Glenn Turner
Elgin Community College
Choose any four of the questions below to answer. The length of each response needs to be one-two fully developed paragraphs. If you chose to quote lines, be certain to document the page numbers: (66).
Please copy the questions on your paper before answering them.
All answers are due in class, May 13th. Do NOT email.
Select 4.
1. Upon her mother's death (at the heart-breaking age of 29, with 15 children), Vyry is sent to work in the plantation household where she encounters the cruelty of Missy Salina. Why is Vyry treated with such viciousness?
2. How does Vyry sustain herself through the brutality—what enables her to survive?
3. Aside from the art of cooking, what else does Aunt Sally teach Vyry that will stand her in good stead in life?
4. Why does Vyry remain to help Miss Lillian after the war is over? What keeps her on the plantation when other former slaves, May Liza, Caline and Jim, leave?
5. What was the irony of the long hoped for Emancipation? In what ways were the Reconstruction years more frightening, perhaps even more painful, than the years of slavery? What about Jim's observation that freedom seems to do them no good when all they do is work with little to show for their efforts?
6. Talk about the role that faith plays in Vyry's life. How does it prevent her from falling into bitterness and despair?
7. How did Randell Ware’s experience during the War affect his views on freedom for the freedmen?
8. How do you feel about Vyry's choice in the end between Innis and Randall Ware?
Explain why or why not the book’s ending professes the belief in “Jubilee”?
Lit. 215 Final
Prof. Glenn Turner
Elgin Community College
Choose any four of the questions below to answer. The length of each response needs to be one-two fully developed paragraphs. If you chose to quote lines, be certain to document the page numbers: (66).
Please copy the questions on your paper before answering them.
All answers are due in class, May 13th. Do NOT email.
Select 4.
1. Upon her mother's death (at the heart-breaking age of 29, with 15 children), Vyry is sent to work in the plantation household where she encounters the cruelty of Missy Salina. Why is Vyry treated with such viciousness?
2. How does Vyry sustain herself through the brutality—what enables her to survive?
3. Aside from the art of cooking, what else does Aunt Sally teach Vyry that will stand her in good stead in life?
4. Why does Vyry remain to help Miss Lillian after the war is over? What keeps her on the plantation when other former slaves, May Liza, Caline and Jim, leave?
5. What was the irony of the long hoped for Emancipation? In what ways were the Reconstruction years more frightening, perhaps even more painful, than the years of slavery? What about Jim's observation that freedom seems to do them no good when all they do is work with little to show for their efforts?
6. Talk about the role that faith plays in Vyry's life. How does it prevent her from falling into bitterness and despair?
7. How did Randell Ware’s experience during the War affect his views on freedom for the freedmen?
8. How do you feel about Vyry's choice in the end between Innis and Randall Ware?
Explain why or why not the book’s ending professes the belief in “Jubilee”?
