As he watches flies, “God’s supreme outcasts, buzzing eternally” (27) in his cell and in the courthouse, Nat philosophizes about the differences between his own race and those base animals. The overarching sense of doubt and fear, magnified from his sense of being “removed from God” (12) in these last days of his life, pervades those metaphors. Nat, for whom literacy has always been important, sees and creates metaphors in the world around him. They also demonstrate his vivid, imaginative mind and his natural sense for descriptive language. These scenes establish Nat’s deep connection to nature, but they also show his deep connection to other black people, however limited by walls and differences. He also hears noises, including a woman’s voice singing one dark night after his trial, “grieving, yet somehow unbending, steadfast, unafraid” (113). This ebook features a new illustrated biography of William Styron, including original letters, rare photos, and never-before-seen documents from the Styron family and the Duke University Archives.In his prison cell, Nat Turner witnesses the world moving outside: horses coming and going, a few black people going about daily tasks. Nat Turner is a galvanizing portrayal of the crushing institution of slavery, and Styron's deeply layered characterization is a stunning rendering of one man's violent struggle against oppression.
This powerful narrative, steeped in the brutal and tragic history of American slavery, reveals a Turner who is neither a hero nor a demon, but rather a man driven to exact vengeance for the centuries of injustice inflicted upon his people. Published at the height of the civil rights movement, the novel draws upon the historical Nat Turner's confession to his attorney, made as he awaited execution in a Virginia jail. The Confessions of Nat Turner is William Styron's complex and richly drawn imagining of Nat Turner, the leader of the 1831 slave rebellion in Virginia that led to the deaths of almost sixty men, women, and children. The "magnificent" Pulitzer Prize–winning and #1 New York Times –bestselling novel about the preacher who led America's bloodiest slave revolt ( The New York Times ).
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