1. What events in American society today seem similar to 18th century social conditions in Suriname?

2. Would you have gone as far as Elisabeth Samson did under the circumstances of her society to achieve this marriage?

3. Do you think family is as important in America today as it was in 18th century Suriname?

4. I'm wondering if in reality Elisabeth Samson felt in the end that what she had gone through was worth it. What do you think?

5. How would you feel if the law forbid you to marry the man you loved?

6. How would you interpret the biblical passage referred to in the story: "Of someone who is conquered, a man-servant shall be made."?

7. Do you see any correlation between the power and world position of the Netherlands in the 17th and 18th centuries and America today?

8. "It is a bitter irony the way our colonial governance regularly makes contradictory decisions. They disapprove of living in concubinage, yet object if a Negress wants to marry a white man. Nay, they even consider living with a man without marrying him to be whorish. Yet white men in this colony have taken Coloured women as concubines for eighty years, which situations are commonly referred to as, "marriage, Suriname style." That is the strange state in which Carl Otto and I live." Do you think Elisabeth Samson was able to achieve a certain amount of victory over these circumstances?