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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. After creating his little "tabernacle" in the woods at Moore's farm, what does Nat occasionally do?
(a) Fast.
(b) Write letters.
(c) Preach.
(d) Exercise.

2. What was Nat's mother's name?
(a) Lily.
(b) Louise.
(c) Laura.
(d) Lou-Ann.

3. Why can't Nat carry out the rebellion on the date he originally chose?
(a) He'll be working at Mrs. Whitehead's on his birthday.
(b) The 4th of July celebrations will be held in town, not outside it.
(c) The Memorial Day picnic will be at the armory lawn.
(d) His master will be out of town on his birthday.

4. Benjamin stated that he, too, would like to do away with slavery. What did he say might take the places of the slaves?
(a) Workers from another country.
(b) Hired help.
(c) Prisoners.
(d) Machines.

5. Nat convinces some of his followers to join him by telling them of a "black" conqueror. About whom did Nat speak?
(a) Alexander the Great.
(b) The Duke of Wellington.
(c) Tamerlane.
(d) Napoleon Bonaparte.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Nat remember seeing after getting to Major Ridley's place?

2. What does Nat say happened in 1825?

3. In Part 3, Nat compares the slave traders to what?

4. Nat's father "ran off" from the Turner household. Why?

5. When Gray questions Nat, does Nat say he feels any remorse over the killings?

Short Essay Questions

1. As the book progresses, the descriptions of white slave owners grow worse and worse, until we reach Nathaniel Francis, introduced in Part 3. Why did Styron make each owner he described, whether the owner of Nat or other slaves, an uglier, meaner character than the one before?

2. When Nat preaches in town in Part 3, he does not use proper English. Why do you think he does that?

3. After Nat spells the word columbine, he lies awake that night thinking about it. He says it's a dream filled with 'inchoate promise'. What does he mean by that? How can one word be a promise?

4. In Part 3 when Nat goes on his five-day fast, he begs the Lord to give him a sign and believed the Lord answered his request. What does Nat describe as being the answer to his request of the Lord?

5. In Part 3, when Nat is owned by Thomas Moore, he says that he fell into the kind of save work that he had believed before could "not ever become my lot, not in a thousand lifetimes." Yet now it had become his lot. How did Nat react to that? How does this turning point relate to his earlier childhood and education, as well as his eventual killing spree?

6. After Nathaniel Francis forces Will and Sam to fight, Nat feels called to preach for the first time. Why do you think that was the event that brought Nat out in public as a preacher? Quote at least one reason from the book.

7. Early in Part 2, the traveling salesman asks Nat to spell a word. This is the second time in the book that a spelling request has frightened Nat. What are some of the reasons Nat gives for his terror?

8. When Nat talks with Mrs. Whitehead in Part 3 after tracing the map, she alternately praises him and treats him as property, stating that she'd offered one thousand dollars for him. How did that make Nat feel?

9. Why might Part 3 be titled "Study War"? Is it appropriate?

10. In Part 2, Nat describes two events: "one causing me the bitterest anguish, the other premonitions of joy." What were these two events, and why might they have been told together?

(see the answer keys)

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