The Confession Of Nat Turner The Banned Book

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The banned book that I chose to read for this quarter was “The Confessions of Nat Turner” by William Styron. The book is loosely based upon the slave rebellion that Nat Turner led in Southampton County, Virginia from August 21-23, 1831. The book starts with Nat Turner waiting for his trial for the rebellion, and then proceeds to look back on his life and then tell the novels through a series of flashbacks. The flashbacks start with his first slave master, Samuel Turner, and end with him leading the slave rebellion. The book has also come under quite a bit of criticism however. Many African American authors and critics very strongly disagreed with how the white plantation owners and the slaves were portrayed in the book. For example Nat Turner’s first slave owner, Samuel Turner, was presented in very high light. This was probably not the case, and that is the reason it enraged so many readers. The book was also banned in some places because of the sexual violence that was portrayed in the novel. Before I get into the book itself it is important to know about the actual person who was Nat Turner and the rebellion that he led in 1831. Nat Turner was born into slavery on October 2, 1800 in Southampton County, Virginia. His slavemaster from the time he was born up until he was ten was Benjamin Turner. When Benjamin Turner died in 1810 Nat became the property of Benjamin’s older brother Samuel, who was portrayed in the book. Nat Turner spent his entire life on the Southampton