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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. While driving Miss Margaret to the Vaughans' farm, what dying animal do she and Nat see?

2. Why can't Nat carry out the rebellion on the date he originally chose?

3. What does Nat compare his life as a slave child to?

4. Which of Nat's followers was deaf?

5. 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?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. After Nat's fast in Part 3, he said there were two events that helped him interpret his vision of the fighting angels as a mandate to kill whites. What were those two events?

3. In Part 2, Nat tells of Little Morning spying on him as a jealous response to the realization that Nat could read. This is the first time Nat tells of a negative reaction to his reading and learning. Why might Little Morning have reacted like this?

4. 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?

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

6. 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.

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. One of the slaves chained by the drover tells Nat that he's "just like him." Do you think this is true? Why or why not?

9. 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?

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Nat feel about T. R. Gray at the beginning of the book? Does he feel the same way at the end? How can you tell? Cite specific examples from the text. How does that compare to how Nat feels about other white people throughout the book?

Essay Topic 2

Near the end of Part 2, Nat reflects on the fact that the other slaves "cared nothing about themselves or where they were going." They weren't concerned about the future, and their sale didn't seem to bother them. Why were they unconcerned? Use at least one specific example from the book in your essay.

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.

(see the answer keys)

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