Create a new account

It's simple, and free.

William Styron's novel The Confessions of Nat Tur

William Styron's novel The Confessions of Nat Turner is a work of historical fiction that centers on a hero with a goal. Although Turner's goal is described mainly through flashback, the novel progresses through the development of that goal and its tragic climax. The Confessions of Nat Turner, therefore, satisfies the traditional elements of fiction.

In a work of fiction, the author must persuade the reader to identify with the main character. In other words, the reader must see the hero's journey as his or her own journey. For this identification to take place, the hero must be in jeopardy, worthy of sympathy or possess a high degree of expertise in some area. Nat Turner exhibits all three. As the story opens, Nat is in jail, awaiting trial and certain execution; his life is in jeopardy.

That Styron is able to immediately generate feelings of sympathy for Turner is a mark of the author's skill as a fiction writer. Styron begins his novel on a historical note, with a passage from a brief pamphlet published shortly after Turner's rebellion. The pamphlet paints Turner in the most unsympathetic light: "many a mother as she presses her darling infant to her bosom, will shudder at the recollection of Nat Turner, and his band of ferocious miscreants" (xv). According to the pamphlet, Turner and his band are a confused, beastly group who murdered innocent whites, yet when armed whites tracked them down, the group proved themselves cowards and either ran or surrendered without a fight.

Styron begins his task of building sympathy for Turner by describing his tortured condition in prison. Turner has been beaten and given no medical attention. He is hungry, but refused food. He is spiritually in need, but refused a Bible. More important, Styron immediately informs the reader that Turner is not the unfeeling monster described in the historical pamphlet. In describing his feelings for Gray, the white man who takes his c...

Page 1 of 7 Next >

More on William Styron's novel The Confessions of Nat Tur...

Loading...
APA     MLA     Chicago
William Styron's novel The Confessions of Nat Tur. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 02:05, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1707781.html