Thomas Gray

"It was not instigated by motives of revenge or sudden anger, but the results of long deliberation, and a settled purpose of mind."

~ The Confessions of Nat Turner

"AN EXQUISITELY SHARPENED HATRED FOR the white man is of course an emotion not difficult for Negroes to harbor. Yet if truth be known, this hatred does not abound in every Negro’s soul; it relies upon too many mysterious and hidden patterns of life and chance to flourish luxuriantly everywhere. Real hatred of the sort of which I speak—hatred so pure and obdurate that no sympathy, no human warmth, no flicker of compassion can make the faintest nick or scratch upon the stony surface of its being—is not common to all Negroes.”

- The Confessions of Nat Turner

William Styron

Thomas Gray's writing is spoken in more of a revealing and storytelling tone. He analyzes the motives and reasoning behind Nat Turner's actions. He wrote "The Confessions of Nat Turner" through the voice of Nat Turner, however, Gray's voice can be detected. He tells Nat Turner's story, but evidence of racial prejudice can be distinguished in the work.

Styron's adaptation of Nat Turner's story is much different than Gray's. Styron incorporates love with the relationship between Turner and a white girl. Turner's hatred for white people is then created for personal gain and vengeance, rather than for black peoples' rights. The hatred is much too exaggerated, and the reason behind it is not God, according to this version of Nat Turner's stories and motives.

Analysis of the Authors' works