What do we make of the mass murder that we’ve nominalized ‘slave rebellion’?  If the perpetrators of the crimes were indeed taking a stand against slavery, aren’t these choices counter-productive to their fight?  We can talk about who has the right to speak on behalf of these individuals all day long, but we can’t forget the actual acts that occurred resulting in 53 deaths.  I think what I’ve seen from my colleagues here as well as in the Text and Context is an arduous attempt to get into the actual mind of Nat Turner.  The graphic novel, the confession, and the historical details cannot get to the granular level details we are all hoping to see.  As we’ve seen argued here the voices have even been manipulated by author in all senses.  Are we to cast the stories aside as untrue?

Or are we willing to bask in the ruin porn, graphic renderings, and melodramatic language that fictionalizes the truth?  In the Text, we hear that “Gray …thought of himself as performing a public service.”  I’d be interested as to what Kyle Baker has to say about it (more than the introduction). If authorial intention is illusive, than the interpretation vastly falls on the reader.  We have only the sources and ourselves to draw upon.