The Confessions Of Nat Turner By William Styron Analysis

Is the Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron a look into Nat Turner’s life or Styron’s mind? The Confessions of Nat Turner written by William Styron in 1967 tells the story of Nat Turner’s slave rebellion. However, there are many critics to this novel because there are many events that have not been proven to be factual to Nat Turner’s life. Many people also argue that Styron was racist, which could have impacted the way he wrote his novel. Styron uses Nat Turner to express his own personal thoughts about white and black people. The novel is about the life of a tortured slave with the dream of equality. Nat’s grandmother was brought over on a slave ship, and she gave birth to his mother at an early age. Eventually, Nat was born, but was not very fortunate. Luckily, Nat was brought up as a house slave which allowed for him to have more opportunities than that of a field slave. Nat was able to find time and a hiding spot to teach himself to read. He did not read just anything, he was mostly interested in the bible. Nat always believed there was a connection between him and God. Nat was being told by God that he needs to be the one to save the slaves, …show more content…
Throughout the novel Nat was constantly being distracted by white woman. Why did Styron feel it was necessary to incorporate the stereotype that the black men have a strong sexual desire for white women? The Dilemma Of William Styron by Alvin F. Poussaint stresses on how much of Nat’s thoughts were factual and how much was Styron’s personal input. Poussaint states the fact, “…Turner and his troops did not sexually molest or rape any white woman whom they had slain or encountered,” (Poussaint 20). There is a common stereotype that black men have the desire to rape women. This was discouraging to the public because it was unnecessary to the plot of the novel. In turn, this caused people to think that Styron included this to be