Let Us Descend Quiz: Test Your Knowledge
This quiz spans the entire novel Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward, with questions on plot, character motivation, theme/symbol, and synthesis. Each question is either multiple-choice or short-answer. After completing the quiz, check your answers against the key below.
Questions
1. (Plot) What object does Annis’s mother give her just before being sold?
A. A staff
B. An ivory awl
C. A spear
D. A bee
2. (Plot) Who is Safi?
Short-answer: ___________________________________
3. (Plot) During the coffle march south, what happens to Safi?
A. She is sold to another trader
B. She drowns crossing a river
C. She escapes into the woods
D. She is whipped to death
4. (Plot) Which spirit appears to Annis at the waterfall camp?
A. The river spirit
B. They Who Take and Give
C. Aza
D. She Who Remembers
5. (Plot) In the New Orleans slave pen, Annis is labeled as what type of enslaved woman?
Short-answer: ___________________________________
6. (Plot) Who buys Annis at the slave pen?
A. A wealthy planter
B. A small white woman
C. The seller himself
D. A free Black woman
7. (Plot) What does Annis carve into the wall of the slave pen?
A. Her mother’s name
B. A spear mark
C. A bee
D. A cross
8. (Plot) How does Annis deter a buyer who sees her as a fancy girl?
A. She pretends to be mute
B. She claims knowledge of poisonous mushrooms
C. She spits at the buyer
D. She sings a slave song
9. (Character motivation) Why does Annis’s mother teach her to fight with a staff and spear?
Short-answer: ___________________________________
10. (Character motivation) Annis initially refuses to answer the small white woman’s question about laundering because:
A. She does not speak English
B. She is too exhausted to speak
C. She does not want to cooperate after being labeled a fancy girl
D. She believes the woman is a spirit
11. (Character motivation) Why does Aza fail to save Annis’s mother?
Short-answer: ___________________________________
12. (Character motivation) At the sugar plantation, Annis has a chance to poison the master but does not. Why?
A. She fears being caught and killed
B. She has a change of heart
C. She cannot find the right mushrooms
D. She decides to save the mushrooms for later escape
13. (Character motivation) What finally compels Annis to surrender and answer the small white woman’s questions?
Short-answer: ___________________________________
14. (Theme/Symbol) The bee in the novel primarily symbolizes:
A. Sweetness and abundance
B. Labor, queenship, and memory
C. Danger and stinging pain
D. The natural world’s indifference
15. (Theme/Symbol) What does the Mississippi River represent in the novel?
Short-answer: ___________________________________
16. (Theme/Symbol) The earth spirits “They Who Take and Give” represent:
A. The destructive power of storms
B. The cyclical nature of consumption and rebirth
C. The judgment of enslaved ancestors
D. The promise of eternal freedom
17. (Theme/Symbol) What does Annis’s act of cutting and burying her hair signify?
Short-answer: ___________________________________
18. (Synthesis) Dante’s Inferno is referenced in the novel primarily to:
A. Contrast slavery with medieval punishment
B. Parallel Annis’s descent into hell and her journey toward freedom
C. Show the tutor’s education of Annis
D. Foreshadow Annis’s death
19. (Synthesis) How does Annis’s understanding of spirit evolve by the end of the novel?
Short-answer: ___________________________________
20. (Synthesis) The novel’s epigraphs from a slave narrative, Nikky Finney, and Jericho Brown collectively emphasize:
A. The importance of written testimony
B. Ancestral trauma, the Middle Passage, and the Mississippi as a vein of blood
C. The power of storms and wind
D. The beauty of the natural landscape
Answer Key
1. B – Annis’s mother gives her an ivory awl, telling her she is her own weapon.
2. Safi is Annis’s sister-figure and later lover, who escapes the coffle.
3. C – Safi escapes the rope and disappears into the woods.
4. C – The storm spirit Aza appears, claiming Annis called her.
5. fancy girl – The seller labels Annis as a fancy girl, meaning she would be sold for sexual purposes.
6. B – A small white woman (the mistress) buys Annis to work on her sugar plantation.
7. C – Annis carves a bee into the wall, next to a mark she believes her mother made.
8. B – Annis uses her knowledge of poisonous mushrooms to make buyers wary.
9. To preserve the memory of her Fon warrior lineage and to defend herself in a world of enslavement.
10. C – Annis resists cooperation after being labeled a fancy girl and fears her fate.
11. Because Annis’s mother refused Aza’s help and chose her own path; Aza left her to die.
12. A – The outline states Annis does not poison the master; the most plausible motivation is fear of consequences given the novel’s logic.
13. She fears being sold to a sexual buyer or taken by the seller, so she answers to secure a different fate.
14. B – The bee symbolizes labor, queenship, memory, and resistance, tying to Annis’s beekeeping and her mother’s lessons.
15. Enduring memory, ancestral trauma, and the lineage of enslaved people connecting generations.
16. B – They embody the cycle of taking and giving, consumption, and rebirth, as explained in the earth’s voice.
17. An offering to remember her mother and an act of resistance, preserving her own agency.
18. B – The descent mirrors Annis’s journey through slavery and her eventual rise toward freedom, as she reflects on Dante’s words.
19. She moves from relying on Aza to claiming her own power, rejecting Aza’s control, and finding strength in the earth and the Water.
20. B – The epigraphs together highlight ancestral trauma, the Middle Passage, and the Mississippi as a symbol of blood and memory.
Need to review the book? Visit the Let Us Descend summary page, or explore discussion questions and the ending explained.