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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. What does Gray attribute the failure of the rebellion to?
(a) Astute observations on the part of the white slaveholders.
(b) Close monitoring of all slave activities.
(c) The lack of intelligence of the slaves.
(d) The moral deficiency of the Negro character.

2. What is Nat going to be tried for?
(a) A misdemeanor.
(b) Theft.
(c) Disturbance of the Peace.
(d) A felony.

3. According to Nat's confession, how many people did he kill?
(a) One.
(b) Two.
(c) Thirty-Two.
(d) Ten.

4. In Part One, Nat tells Gray that the Lord told him to confess so that "all nations will know." What was the other reason the Lord gave Nat for confessing?
(a) That the pure shall know repentance.
(b) That thy life shall be spared.
(c) That thy acts will be known to all men.
(d) That thy truth shall be known.

5. How many of the slaves escaped the insurrection without punishment?
(a) None.
(b) Seven.
(c) Only one.
(d) Two.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does T. R. Gray mean by "this population"?

2. Nat's mind "finally" became what, according to Gray?

3. How does Nat encounter Jeremiah Cobb the first time?

4. What happened to Hark's wife and son?

5. What moniker did Gray assign to Nat Turner?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. 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?

3. When Gray addresses the court, he blames "pure Negro cowardice" as a partial reason for the rebellion's failure, but then later in that same paragraph, Gray describes devoted slaves fighting "as bravely as any man" against Nat and his band. Why is he saying these things? Is he trying to confuse the justices?

4. 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?

5. 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.

6. Nat tells Gray in the Introduction, "I don't think you understand about this business and I don't know but whether it's too late to make it all plain". If Gray took down what Nat said and is reading it back to him, why would Nat think Gray didn't understand?

7. 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?

8. In the introduction, Gray refers to the insurrection as a "conspiracy." Do you agree with that term? Why or why not?

9. Part 1 is told partly in the court as Nat's sentence is being handed down and partly through flashbacks to earlier times in Nat's life. Why might Styron have opened the book this way? What purpose does it serve?

10. Gray says that all the other insurgents who were examined tried to exculpate themselves. What does that mean? And why Nat didn't do it?

(see the answer keys)

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