(1) What is Equiano holding in the frontpiece to his book? Why?

(2) What is the significance of the epigraph from Isaiah on the title page?

(3) What does Equiano say is his rhetorical purpose in his introductory address to the "Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons of the Parliament" (p. 30)?

(4) How exactly has Equiano been "compensated" for his sufferings under the institution of slavery (p. 30)? Does the subsequent narrative support Equiano’s claim to have been compensated?

(5) In Chapter 1 what beliefs and practices does Equiano identify as important in the religion of his native country and to what does he compare them?

(6) At the end of Chapter 1, why does Equiano quote from Paul’s speech to the Athenians?

(7) In Chapter 2 how does Equiano make sense of and react to people radically different than himself?

(8) How does Equiano’s attitude change toward Europeans?

(9) Why is Equiano baptized?

(10) How does Equiano use quotations from other authors throughout his narrative?

(11) What is the rhetorical effect when Equiano directly addresses his reader?

(12) What value do books have for Equiano?

(13) How does "God’s will" or Divine Providence function within the narrative? For example, does it serve as a motive or an explanation or both for Equiano in Chapter 6?

(14) In Chapter 7 how does Equiano achieve freedom from slavery? What are the consequences?

(15) What role does preaching serve in Equiano’s development? Prayer? Reading?

(16) How does Equiano characterize his efforts "to be a first-rate Christian" at the beginning of Chapter 10?

(17) What does Equiano try to do for John Annis and does he relate these efforts to his attempts to save his own soul?

(18) What role does blaspheming play in Equiano’s striving to satisfy his troubled conscience throughout Chapter 10?

(19) In what sense was Equiano still "in nature’s darkness" even while he was striving vigorously "to love [God] more and serve him better" (p. 153)?

(20) What does Equiano come to realize about the roles played by his "own good deeds" and "the sovereign gift of God" in becoming saved (p. 159)?