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

2. From which room did Nat steal a book?

3. Why do Marse Sam and the traveling salesman go out to the veranda?

4. On Marse Samuel's plantation, how were the slaves awoken in the morning?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. 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?

3. 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?

4. 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.

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. 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?

7. 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?

8. 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?

9. In Part 2, when Nat baptizes Willis, he feels he's on the brink of great things, that great possibilities in his life are opening up. Yet soon after, his life changes as the slaves and eventually the plantation, including him, are sold. Is it possible that this had an effect on Nat's eventual decision to kill the whites? Why?

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Part 1, Miss Nell gives Nat a Bible and says, "Heed this good book, Nathaniel, and happiness shall attend you wherever you go." Nat was, of course, able to read the Bible and eventually became a self-professed minister of the Word. Do you think the Bible brought him happiness? What part did the Bible and religion play in Nat's life from that point on? Did Nat's religious upbringing play a part in his decision to murder?

Essay Topic 2

What event or events in the book were a "turning point" for Nat that led him toward rebellion? Describe the event(s) from the book that you identify, and explain why you believe it or they moved Nat down the path toward killing whites.

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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