The Confessions of Nat Turner is a book written by William Styron that tells the story of Nat Turner, a slave who led a rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia in 1831. The book is based on Turner's own confession, which he made to a white lawyer named Thomas R. Gray shortly before his execution.
Nat Turner was born into slavery in 1800 and spent most of his life working on a plantation in Virginia. Despite being a slave, he was highly intelligent and religious, and he often preached to his fellow slaves about the injustice of their situation. As he grew older, Turner became increasingly convinced that it was his destiny to lead a rebellion against the white slave owners.
In the summer of 1831, Turner gathered a group of fellow slaves and set out on a mission to overthrow the white slave owners in Southampton County. The rebellion was eventually crushed, and Turner was captured and sentenced to death. However, before his execution, he dictated his confession to Gray, which provides a unique insight into the motivations and beliefs of Turner and the other slaves who participated in the rebellion.
In his confession, Turner claimed that he was guided by divine visions and prophecies, which convinced him that it was his duty to lead the rebellion. He also spoke about the brutal treatment of the slaves on the plantation, including the frequent whippings and the separation of families.
The Confessions of Nat Turner is an important historical document that provides insight into the life and thoughts of one of the most famous slave rebels in American history. It is a powerful reminder of the injustice and suffering experienced by slaves in the United States, and it serves as a testament to the resilience and determination of those who fought against their oppression.
The Confessions of Nat Turner Summary
New York: Oxford University Press USA, 2004. Nat had met Cobb once on his owner's plantation. Gray has told him that they will have to hang him while he is strapped in a chair. The last date is today's date â the date you are citing the material. Infanticide and, less frequently, suicide, were ways slaves sometimes resisted their servitude. The citation above will include either 2 or 3 dates.
The Confessions of Nat Turner Part 1 Section 1 Summary
Nat hears heavy footsteps in the hallway. As a child, Nat didn't understand the nature of his status in the household; he thought of himself, quite naturally, as a loved member of the family. It is the day of the hanging. Styron fictionalized a historic character, Nat Turner, but nevertheless remained faithful to the known facts, most of which came from the 1831 Confessions. But the shackles also keep him from scratching his back, which has developed a terrible itch that is driving him mad. Then they take the ladder away. Soon after, he finds "drops of blood on the corn as though it were dew from heaven" and "hieroglyphic characters" on the "leaves in the woods" p.
The Confessions of Nat Turner Section 4 Summary
Gray, the whole country is curious about how Nat organized the slaves and why they were rebelling. As a spiritual man, Nat began to see that he had an obligation, as one of the very few literate black men, to help his people. The others gossip about who stole it. Nat cannot yet read Mr. Though it might be a relic from all times past and future. Gray has come to Nat's cell to urge Nat to answer these questions. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004.
The Confessions of Nat Turner Summary & Study Guide
CITE THIS ENTRY APA Citation: French, Scot. His master and erstwhile father figure, Samuel Turner, had promised to give Nat his freedom when he turned twenty-five. During a span of approximately thirty-six hours, on August 21-22, a band of enslaved people murdered over fifty unsuspecting white people around Southampton, Virginia. As Gray explains this and reads the confession back to him, Nat stares out the window of his cell. But showing that white women completely occupy his fantasies made him into that caricature for some critics of the book.
The Confessions of Nat Turner Chapter Summaries
Feeling an intense loathing for these slaves, he turns to his Bible. Who has the authority to decide which interpretations of history are fit for mass consumption and which are not? On that occasion, Will also had to complete the murder for Nat. The verdict the slaves have received is less a statement of what the slaves' guilt and more of whether or not the plantation owner is liable. Less defensible, or at least problematic, was his decision to endow Turner with a contemporary imagination. Massenberg, but later were lost. MLA Citation: French, Scot.
The Confessions of Nat Turner
Travis never hurt Nat and treated him fairly. But on that day, after talking with Cobb, he says, all white people will go, except for one. Travis allows Nat to do skilled work as a carpenter and to read his Bible and preach to other slaves. The second is the date of publication online or last modification online. The second date is today's date â the date you are citing the material.
The Confessions of Nat Turner Part 2 Section 1 Summary
Now in puberty, Nat takes to masturbating in a storage shed while fantasizing about an anonymous white girl. SUMMARY The Confessions of Nat Turner, the leader of the late insurrection in Southampton, Va. Styron traced his interest in the subject of slavery to the stories his grandmotherâwho had owned slavesâtold him as a child growing up in Newport News. Nat Turner was a slave, the first slave to organize a rebellion in the United States. Gray attempts to make the case that the law was protective of the slaves. . .
Confessions of Nat Turner, The (1831)
He limits this practice to once a week, out of what he considers decency and religious sentiment. Soon, though, a group of African American writers attacked the book, accusing Styron of distorting history, of co-opting their hero, and of demeaning Turner by endowing him with love for one of his victims, a young white woman. However, The Confessions of Nat Turner does not rely on a sensational account of slavery. The other element of his adult sexuality already evident in his teenage years is his fascination with white women. Moreover, the pervasiveness of rape deeply affects Nat's life. The last date is today's date â the date you are citing the material.
