Part 1 Summary

Styron's novel opens with Nathaniel Turner's recurring vision. Nat recalls that it began as a dream in his childhood, but over the years, he would often see it before his waking eyes. The vision consists of him, alone in a small boat, moving gently down a river to where it meets the sea. A promontory juts out over the ocean, and upon it is a white building, which Nat has decided is a temple of some sort. The temple has no doors, which only adds to the feeling of great mystery which this temple and this vision represent for Nat. He explains to the reader that the inexplicable vision must be connected to his childhood, when he had often heard people speak of the ocean in nearby Norfolk. Nat harbors an intense, aching desire to see the ocean, but he has never been...