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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the introduction, what does Gray state Nat's mind "first became"?

2. 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?

3. What warning, if any, was given for the insurrection?

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

5. How does Gray say the "band" resisted when the white people finally caught up to them?

Short Essay Questions

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

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, Nat gets very angry at Hark and chastises him for being so subservient to the whites. But Hark is a slave. Hark is doing what the whites expect, and being well treated because of it. Was Nat justified in what he did? Why or why not?

4. In Part 1, Gray reads back Nat's account of the killings, and Nat yells at him to stop. Why did Nat say that? Did he feel remorse? Nat says, "We done what had to be done!" Was he was talking about his "visions" and what they told him, or what Nat, personally, felt needed to be done?

5. In the Introduction, Gray talks about an "annexed certificate of the County Court of Southampton" to prove the authenticity of Nat's "confession." Yet no one from the court, besides Gray, heard Nat's statements. Why might Gray have included the certificate?

6. 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?

7. In Part 1, Nat says "a white man's discomfiture, observed on the sly, has always been a Negro's richest delight." Is this true? If so, why? If not, why would Nat think such a thing? Either way, what does that quote suggest about Nat?

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

9. 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.

10. 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.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

During his lifetime, Nat has four masters: Samuel Turner, Reverend Eppes, Thomas Moore, and Joseph Travis, and each of these masters treated Nat differently. Compare and contrast these owners and the effect they had on Nat.

Essay Topic 2

When Marse Samuel promised Nat his freedom, he couldn't deliver it right then. Eventually, the promise was broken and Nat was sold to different masters. Explore the effect this hope of freedom had on Nat immediately after he realized what Marse Samuel was saying, and later on, as he gradually realized the promise would never happen. Use at least two different examples from the book to back up your essay.

Essay Topic 3

Ethelred T. Brantley was told by Reverend Entwistle that he would never be welcome in the church. Yet Nat told him that he could be saved by baptism in the Spirit. Nat had studied the Bible, and we can assume Reverend Entwistle had, as well. How could two completely opposite statements about the same person come based on the same book? What might have been some reasons for Entwistle telling Brantley he wasn't welcome? What might have been some reasons for Nat to tell Entwistle he could be saved?

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