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

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

3. What does Nat see as a good omen right before he returns to the farm from his "sanctuary" after revealing his plans to his core group of followers?

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

5. Gray initially blames Nat's "failure" on the slaves' what?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. 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?

3. 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.

4. Nat equates Isham to John the Baptist. Nat speaks of a warning after the incident with Isham. Is this related?

5. After Nat describes his ideas about his grandmother, he switches to describing what he knows about his father--mainly that he ran away, and, at least in Nat's mind, is free now. How does Nat's description of his grandmother differ from his description of his father?

6. 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?

7. The scene with Major Ridley's fiancee is very strong. A northern white woman, newly arrived in town, can't find her way around and can't understand the Negroes speech. According to Nat, she left, never to return. Why might Styron have had her interact with Arnold, an elderly slave who had been freed, but with no education and worse elocution?

8. 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?

9. 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?

10. Nat's vision in Part 3 involves a white angel and a black angel fighting. The black angel wins, casting the white angel down. When Nat questions this vision, he says he received no answer at all "save the answer in my brain." What did he interpret this vision as, and why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In 1831 Virginia, it was illegal for slaves to learn to read and write. Why, then, did Samuel Turner decide to teach Nat? What effects, good and bad, could this have had for Mr. Turner? Were there risks for Nat, as well? If so, what were they?

Essay Topic 2

The book opens and closes with Nat's vision of a white building on a cliff, bathed in sunlight. What do you think the white building represents? Why is it next to the sea? Nat referenced hearing about the ocean from other slaves, but never got the chance to view it himself. How does this vision of an unattainable building tie in with Nat's life and his rebellion?

Essay Topic 3

In Part 1, Samuel Turner discusses things with Nat on his ride to Jerusalem as if Nat were an equal. Yet he refers to Nat in that same discussion as a "darky," a derogatory term. Describe other instances in the book when a white person was being derogatory to a black, but was unaware of this. Are there instances when a white speaks to a black in a derogatory manner and is aware of it? How did whites use their conversations with blacks in various manners in the book, and what result were they expecting? Be sure to use at least one specific example from the book in your discussion.

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