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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In the Introduction, what two methods did Gray say were used by the slaves to attempt to find safety?
(a) Running away or swimming.
(b) Begging for mercy or hiding on another plantation.
(c) Poling down the river or hiding on a boat.
(d) Concealment or returning home.

2. According to Nat, Hark's name might be short for what?
(a) Hercules.
(b) Hank.
(c) Hector.
(d) Harken.

3. While in jail, about how many blacks does Hark say were killed while Nat hid?
(a) One hundred fifty.
(b) Fifty.
(c) One hundred.
(d) Two hundred.

4. When did Nat first begin to plan his rebellion?
(a) While being punished by Joseph Travis.
(b) After overhearing plans for his sale to Jeremiah Cobb.
(c) While working with Hark.
(d) While trapping rabbits.

5. Who is Gray?
(a) The Mayor.
(b) An attorney.
(c) A friend of Nat's .
(d) A friend of Nat's late master.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Nat's statements, the insurrection was ______.

2. Who gives T. R. Gray permission to talk to Nat in jail?

3. Who finds Nat and captures him?

4. Nat tells Gray of an event that "laid the groundwork" for his later actions, including the insurrection. What was that event?

5. According to Nat's confession, he had originally intended the rebellion to begin on what day?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the world that Nat lived in from a slave's perspective. Now describe it from a white person's perspective.

2. The Introduction opens in the jail, so the reader already know Nat has been caught. Why might the author have used this technique? Why not choose some other method of telling the story?

3. In Part 1, when Nat is cleaning rabbits with Hark and Jeremiah Cobb stops to talk after getting a drink, Nat becomes nervous when he feels Cobb's question needs an answer. Nat doesn't want to give away a hint of what he's planning, but there's something else that pulls him in two directions when he considers whether to answer Cobb or not. Describe why Nat is so worried.

4. In the "Author's Note", Styron says he has "rarely departed from the known facts about Nat Turner and the revolt of which he was the leader." But the written text of the Confession is only around twenty pages. This book is over 400 pages long. Surely this can't be all fact; Styron himself says he allowed himself the "utmost freedom" in reconstructing the events. So which is true? Do you think this book will be mostly fact or fiction?

5. When Judge Cobb first appears in the book, Nat describes his face as "blighted, ravaged by sorrow." When considering his eventual killing spree, Nat decides to spare Cobb. Why might he have done that?

6. Gray tries to calm the fears of the people in Southampton County with his statement that's included in the Introduction. Yet he says "if Nat's statements can be relied upon." Why would he include a statement like this when he's trying to calm people?

7. Prejudice is "an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought or reason". (Dictionary.com) Do you think Nat displays prejudice toward Gray? Toward whites in general? How? List specific examples from Part 1.

8. Read Nat's description of Gray when they first meet in Part 1. Read Nat's thoughts about Gray immediately after the description. What does Nat think and/or feel about Gray? Does that have an effect on Nat's decision to confess? What does he think whites expect of him?

9. Styron published this book in 1967, 136 years after Nat Turner's rebellion and during a time of unrest in the United States over equal rights and race relations. In the Author's Note he says "the year 1831 was, simultaneously, a long time ago and only yesterday." What might he mean by that?

10. Near the middle of Part 1, Nat says that treating blacks badly will make them "your for life", but treat him nice, and "he will want to slice your throat." What does Nat mean by that?

(see the answer keys)

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