The Confessions Of Nat Turner Analysis

The Fires of Jubilee, by Stephen B. Oates, tells an account of Nat Turner’s rebellion. Beginning with Nat’s early life and finally ending with the legacy his execution left the world, Oates paints a historical rending of those fateful days. The Confessions of Nat Turner by Thomas R. Gray and approved by Nat himself is among Oates’ chief sources. Oates is known as a reputable historian through his other works, and has strong credentials however, in the case of The Fires of Jubilee there are some limitations. It is, therefore, worth analyzing Oates’ interpretation for reliability. In doing so one sees that The Fires of Jubilee, because of its weak use of citations, failure to alert the audience of assumed details and the way in which

Nat Turner was a leader from the very moment he was born. But unfortunately he was also born into slavery. He was hit with the regulatory slave rules, he could not get married, travel without the permission of his master, could not own property, and he could not earn money. During his slavery, he was sold to many different slave owners and each time, he was sold, he was forced to leave some part of his family, as well as his friends he had made. This was the brutal and demeaning system of slavery that he sought to overthrow. He was not just looking for his own individual freedom, he was fighting for the abolishment of the whole entire system of slavery, along with liberating African Americans from white tyranny. During the 1820s he had many visions of what he believed to be God commanding him to prepare himself to fight against great evil. He was not the only one that was “receiving visions from God” there were many other Americans that said to experience

In The Fires of Jubilee Nat Turner's Fierce Rebellion: Stephen Oates gives an account of the brief but deadly slave revolt in and around Southampton, Virginia. His controlling theme is that of religion and the profound influence that it had on the development of Nat Turner's charismatic persona and his rationale for engaging in a project of deliberate murder of people who had at least in the context of slavery as a given of Turner's experience, treated him quite decently. The effects of Nat Turner's rebellion were profound. The insurrection of Nat Turner was inspiration for all slaves, even if just 60 whites were killed to the 140 blacks. I am

This paper analyses the cause and the outcome of the Nat Turner’s rebellion. It also shows how violence was justified in the movement to abolish slavery because it proved that slave-owners should take the interest of slaves very seriously and treat them as a human, it also became a turning point where some slaves had the power to fight for a cause that they truly believed in and to a certain degree they were successful.

Nat Turner was born a unique child, who did not have the normal interests as most children his age.Turner was thought to have a special gift, because he could describe events that had transpired in history before he was born. People went around calling him a prophet.“Nat’s parents, his grandmother, and other Turner slaves all agreed that he was “ intended for some great purpose.” “ They showed the other slaves how Nat had congenital bumps and scars on his head and chest. Africans tradition held that a male with markings like these was destined to become a leader.” ( Oates 12). Hearing these things growing up led him to spend most of his time praying and fasting. Turner made claims that God gave him signs and visions.

The book educates readers on the difficult life slaves had in America during the 1800’s and the life of Nat Turner and the rebellion he lead. The book focuses on Nat’s life and the adversities as well as challenges slaves had to go through to survive. The psychological effects slaves had for the fault of the system they were unjustly born into or put in, affected their decision making every day; either by making them obey their masters or fight for their freedom and die, rather than continue living as a slave. In the case of Nat Turner, life as a slave caused him to lead a rebellion whose sole purpose was to kill all of the white people who lived in Southampton County, Virginia, and its surrounding areas. Unfortunately, Nat’s rebellion is what caused his death.

He had began to see more signs and he had gotten more visions from God. He interpreted them as if he need to attack his enemies with their own weapons. He had a few close trusted friends that he shared his visions with. He shared the visions with them and only them. They would also help him in his revolt. Turner and his close trusted friend met daily to come up with plans for his secret revolt. They came up with a list of about twenty other blacks to help with the revolt. He told his master about his revolt once, and because he told him, he was beaten for it.

Turner believed that God was sending him signs that the prophesied “day of judgement” referenced in Revelation, the last book of the Bible, was coming to pass. He claimed that an eclipse that year in February signaled to him that “[he] should arise and prepare [himself], and slay [his] enemies with their own weapons” (“Voices of Freedom”, Foner 225). Slaves often turned to scripture in order to attempt to prove their right to be treated the same as whites. A Christian faith was one of the few aspects of life they shared with the white population, and they believed it would be key in convincing their oppressors of their civility and equality as human beings. However, in this case Turner is using religious justifications in a more unorthodox method. He used religion to allow for violent uprising and indiscriminate massacre of white people and completely disregarded their age or disposition. Nat Turner’s rebellion held some irony due to the nonselective form of persecution they doled out on the nearby whites. The slaves, who felt mistreated and generalized as all being stupid and barbaric, went out and participated in the haphazard slaughter of many of their guilty oppressors, but this type of resistance only succeeded in validating their harmful stereotypes and inferior thoughtless beings. Though the life of a slave was a frustrating one to say the least, small scale violent

Nat Turner’s rebellion has been considered one of the bloodiest slave revolt in Southern history, and had a huge impact on the futures of Southern generations for years after. In Nat Turner’s confessions he states “You have asked me to give a history of the motives which induced me to undertake the late insurrection, as you call it--To do so I must go back to the days of my infancy, and even before I was born. I was thirty-one years of age the 2d of October last, and born the property of Benjamin Turner, of this county.” (Turner 1831 pg.3) Nat Turner lived in South Hampton County, now in Virginia. In South Hampton County, there were many slaves. Slaves would attend praise meetings and celebrate the praise, in such a way the whites did not understand, but the whites still believed that they were harmless. Again, the whites believed that their slaves posed no threat however, nothing was as calm as it appeared. On August 22, 1831, a gang of slave rebels led by a preist, Nat Turner, attacked with guns and axes in the biggest and bloodiest slave revolt in Southern history.

Nat Turner was born into slavery in Virginia in october of 1800. He believed that he was chosen by God to help lead slaves to freedom. In late august in 1831 he led one of the bloodiest slave rebellions in history. This caused the end of the emancipation movement and harsher laws on the slaves. When he was a young boy, people thought he had a rare gift, as he could describe things in detail that happened before his birth, some remarked he would be a prophet according to his confession. His confession also states that his mother and grandmother told him that he was “intended for some great purpose” they raised him very religious and he spent a lot of his time reading the bible and praying. When he believes he got his “sign” from God, while working

     Nat Turner’s slave revolt may have not been the greatest way to solve the problem of slavery,

I have recently completed the reading of “The Confessions of Nat Turner” written by William Styron. This book pivots around the life of Nat Turner, a slave who got arrested for the slave rebellion that he had created. Confessing to the wrongs that Nat has committed, the author uses the first person point of view perspective to gradually steer the reader to the events that led to the Slave Rebellion of 1831. “The Confessions of Nat Turner” recapitulates “The Confessions of Nat Turner: The Leader of the Late Insurrection in Southampton, Virginia”, a first-hand account of Nat’s Story. The element of this book that grasped my attention, was the rusty look and feel the book pages have therefore, signaling that this book is probably from the 20th century, in fact in 1967 this book became published. Furthermore, this book withholds interesting historical facts. The reason being this book choice is that, this specific introduces a topic that has tremendously affected the lives of many people furthermore, a topic that fascinates me.

Harriss, M. Discusses Nat Turner’s Confessions – my artifact – the articles explain following Gray’s “framing”

Heroic Slave Rebel in Delaney's Blake or the Huts of America and Douglass' Heroic Slave

The coming tempest may symbolize the destruction of slave society, and it may give occasion to feel qualms about Turner's faith in the "free market" society as a profoundly better society (Sparks, 2003).