The novel, The Fires of Jubilee, written by Stephen B. Oates is a well- crafted biography of Nat Turner and his rebellion. Throughout the novel you will realize how brilliant Nat Turner really was. You will also come to the conclusion that his experiences shaped him into the man he eventually became. Nat Turner was born on October 2, 1800 in South Hampton County
Virginia to his mother Nancy, on a plantation owned by Benjamin Turner, a wealthy man. Nancy did not marry or have him with Benjamin. She married a slave who lived on the same plantation. When Nat was around five years old, he could remember things that happened even before he was born. Everyone thought
Nat was a genius. Benjamin knew that Nat really should not be a …show more content…
This attracted tons of slaves to listen. Over the next couple of weeks, word spread across the country about Nat and his sermons. One Sunday, while the plantation owners were all at church, Nat and his friends met up at the cabin pond to discuss the plan for that evening. Once it was night, the slaves decided to go on a white person killing rampage. They started off by killing Mr. Moore. After the first house, they went to many more on basically a mass purge. In each town, they would pick up more slaves and free men to join them fight the whites. This event is known as, Nat Turner’s Rebellion. With about forty men with him, they began to lose focus and were not 100% alert or ready for an offensive attack. This gave Virginia’s militia the upper hand, therefore crushing the rebellion with ease. During the battle Nat Turner was extremely lucky yet again in surviving the massacre, a few lived but then were immediately taken into custody. He once said in the Confessions of Nat Turner
“That I chose Independence Day as the moment to strike was of course a piece of deliberate irony.” Again strengthens in my mind that this guy was genius and