Day of Tears

Chapters 1-4

Reading Check

1. Fanny Butler divorced Pierce Butler prior to the story’s setting. She didn’t know he enslaved people and was against enslavement. (Chapter 1)

2.  He lost his voice permanently, so he couldn’t work anymore. He fought with the Confederates in the Civil War and lost his leg. (Chapter 2 & Interlude 2)

3. Pierce says Sarah needs to grow up, mature, and stop being a “baby.” (Chapter 4)

Short Answer

1. The auctions are places where the horrors and dehumanization of slavery are on full display, which Mattie thinks the Butler girls are too young to see. Also, the girls’ mother would not approve of Pierce’s choice. (Chapter 1)

2. Pierce cares about what the people he enslaves think of his choices and his character, which Weems sees as a sign of weakness. (Chapter 2)

3. She wants to fit into the role of heiress to the Butler plantation and impress her father. (Interlude 3)

Chapters 5-7

Reading Check

1. The auction is in the barn of a racetrack. The people are kept in the horse stalls. (Chapter 5)

2. Dorcas and Jeffrey were in love and sold away from one another because they weren’t yet married.