The story of Nightjohn begins with a 12 year old girl‚ named Sarny‚ who lives under the enslavement of her cruel owner‚ Clel Waller. Sarny’s main duties on the plantation are to serve at the dinner table‚ spit tobacco on roses to prevent bugs‚ and convey secretive letters between Mr. Waller’s wife and Dr. Chamberlaine. Soon enough‚ Nightjohn arrives and takes Sarney under his guidance‚ in exchange for tobacco‚ while he secretly teaches her how to read and write. Nightjohn came back from freedom for
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Nightjohn Themes The Book‚ Nightjohn‚ as well as the movie‚ has many themes and views you could look at. I’m going to be focusing on the three themes that spoke to me the most. These themes are Getting along with others‚ Leadership‚ and probably most of all: Freedom. THe first theme I’m going to talk about is Getting along with others. I think using fear and intimidation is effective for controlling workers‚ however I don’t think it’s appropriate. Rewarding slaves for good behavior would work for
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Three Themes from Nightjohn The time of slavery was very difficult. Slaves had to fight for what they believed in. In order to become free‚ the slaves had to take action. They couldn’t just sit around doing nothing and expect their life to get any better. In the book Nightjohn‚ three big themes were freedom‚ leadership‚ and bravery. To be a free slave was a very fortunate thing. John escaped slavery and was free but he chose to go back into slavery just so he could teach reading and writing
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book NightJohn by Gary Paulsen‚ NightJohn and Sarny had the courage to do what other wouldn’t do. Throughout the book NightJohn and Sarny were the ones with the most courage. For example‚ on page 38 Sarny asks “Can you teach me those?” NightJohn says “I sure can.” NightJohn just said that he is taking the risk to teach Sarny to read. If NightJohn gets caught he could get whipped and beaten. Also if Sarny were to get caught writing
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reading.” - Gary Paulsen‚ Nightjohn. Nightjohn is a story about a slave‚ Sarny. She meets a man called John and makes a deal with him. Sarny gave John tabacco‚ so John gave Sarny letters‚ words‚ how to read and write. The book informs you about some of the hardships slaves had to endure. Along with having a great story‚ Nightjohn has many themes that get you to think. A few of the themes that stuck with me are prejudice‚ freedom‚ and getting along with others. In Nightjohn‚ Clel Waller‚ the slave
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Nightjohn Themes Matt closes his book and sets it down on his table after finishing the last page. He wonders why Mrs. Brothers chose this book. What was the point of reading it? What was the theme? The book “Nightjohn” is set back in the late 1700s and is focused on slavery and their life and struggles. It is narrated by a slave girl named Sarny who finds a new slave friend who teaches her how to read. The themes of this story are leadership‚ bravery‚ and getting along with others. There are
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In the novel Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen‚ chapter 4‚ Sarny recalls a memory of three slaves who were all made examples of by either running away‚ sneaking off plantation‚ or getting caught too close to the white house. In the first case‚ Sarny recalls a girl named Alice. She tried to run away when she was on the plantation but she was caught. In return the dogs caught her trying to run away and she was whipped until her skin was bleeding and rippled. Clel Waller decided that instead of killing her
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Slavery in a Novel Are you a human? Do you believe in human rights and equality? Well‚ some of the characters in the book Nightjohn didn’t believe in equality. They believed in punishing anybody who did not look like them. Even though the slaves might have done something differently than they would have done it‚ slavery should not have been a problem. During this book‚ there were multiple themes that represented that fact‚ including leadership‚ bravery‚ and prejudice. These themes were fully responsible
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In chapter four of Gary Paulsen’s Nightjohn‚ a slave named Alice was caught walking into the White House. Waller‚ the slave owner‚ doesn’t allow slaves in the White House so he whipped her until her back was ripped and bleeding. Sarny‚ the narrator‚ recalled a story about a slave name Jim. Jim tried to escape during the night but the next morning Waller set after him with the dogs. Waller feeds the dogs blood things that make them mean. Jim climbed a tree but the tree wasn’t good enough; the dogs
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to have courage. Most people have the ideas of making a difference‚ but don’t have the courage to do anything about it. In the story NightJohn by Gary Paulsen‚ NightJohn shows us how to have courage‚ when everyone else would turn the other way. Foremost‚ NightJohn had escaped from slavery already‚ but came back to teach slaves how to read and write (page 55). NightJohn could’ve just stayed in the North where it was safer‚ but instead he came back‚ because he realized how important it was for slaves
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