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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. According to Gray, how many slave uprisings had there been in the area prior to Nat Turner's?
(a) There had been two prior rebellions.
(b) There had been three prior rebellions.
(c) There had been one prior rebellion, also put down.
(d) Nat's rebellion was the first.

2. While in church with Hark, Nat makes plans to gather with other blacks where?
(a) Behind the general store.
(b) In the alley next to the courthouse.
(c) Near the creek behind the church.
(d) At the graveyard.

3. What is Nat's execution date?
(a) November 12th.
(b) November 11th.
(c) November 1st.
(d) Thanksgiving Day.

4. What do the Negroes in church use to fan themselves?
(a) Thin, pine-bark shingles.
(b) Starched, ironed pieces of cloth.
(c) Folded pieces of paper.
(d) Pine boughs.

5. What is an insurrection?
(a) An agreement.
(b) A peace march.
(c) A fight.
(d) An uprising.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Gray refer to himself in the introduction?

2. What does Gray state that Nat's confessions demonstrate about the laws?

3. When Gray speaks of understanding Nat's mind, what does he say about it?

4. What does Gray refer to the insurgent slaves as?

5. What does Nat remember during Gray's speech to the court?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. 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?

3. While in jail, Nat describes Kitchen and thinks of him in one way, yet speaks to him in a completely different manner. Describe the differences and what this tells readers about Nat.

4. 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?

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

6. What do readers know about Gray from the Introduction? What is implied, or what can be inferred from what Gray says? From this information, what kind of person might Gray be?

7. 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?

8. 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?

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

10. At the end of the introduction, it states that the confession was read to Nat, and when asked if he had anything further to say, he said no. The rebellion was a complicated affair that involved planning. Why do you think Nat declined to say anything further?

(see the answer keys)

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