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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 find in Mrs. Whitehead's library that furthers his plans for a slave uprising?

2. Who almost discovers Nat reading right after he steals the book?

3. After Benjamin died, who inherited the plantation?

4. Who tries to take over the insurrection from Nat?

5. Nat orders that his recruits do what when he arrives?

Short Essay Questions

1. Miss Nell calls Nat "you smart little tar baby" in Part 1. Please explain what is meant by that name, and how it compares to what a white child would be called for the same reason.

2. In Part 2, Nat talks about Samuel Turner's tampering with a slave's destiny by educating him. Immediately afterward, he talks about what his life might have been like if he had not been the subject of Marse Samuel's "experiment." What do you think of this description of his might-have-been life? Is it something that appeals to him?

3. 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?

4. 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?

5. 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?

6. The story of Hark's escape and eventual return takes up a large section of Part 3. Why might Styron have devoted so much time to this story? What was he trying to show? What do readers learn from Nat's telling of the story?

7. 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?

8. In Part 1, Marse Samuel speaks to Dr. Ballard about the existence of slavery in the South. He says "it is evil to keep these people in bondage, yet they cannot be freed. They must be educated!" Samuel's brother Benjamin does not agree with him and argues the other point. Who makes the better argument?

9. Much of Part 2 is taken up with items from Nat's past. Why was so much of the book spent on the early times in Nat's life, rather than on his planning for the rebellion?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

There are many ways to ask questions. There are simple yes/no questions, open-ended questions, questions that ask someone to elaborate on a point, and leading questions, where someone asks a question so that the expected answer is clear. We don't have a record of the questions Mr. Gray asked of Nat. Based on your reading of the novel:

1. What might be some of the questions that Mr. Gray asked of Nat?

2. Was Mr. Gray trying to get a history of events, or was he more concerned with why Nat rebelled?

Essay Topic 3

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.

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