Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen: Response to Literature

Have you ever thought of what people did to slaves? In the story Nightjohn, by Gary Paulsen, I learned what inhumane things poeple did to slaves. Nightjohn is a story about a young slave girl named Sarny. In the story, she meets an older male slave, named Nightjohn. Nightjohn teaches Sarny how to read, even when he knew that doing this could cost him his life. Through this, I've learned that slavery was a very big mistake we made in history. It was not only wrong, but abusive and a down right cruel thing to do to other human beings.

You can tell that slavery was a horrible thing through the eyes of Sarny. When she was born, she was seperated from her mother. A scene in the story when Sarny first learns how to read, shows that she writes the word "Bag," in the dirt. For doing this, she is punished by being kicked and punched. Sarny was one of many slaves in the book that was treated very unfairly.

Another character in the story is Alice. She was caught wondering around one night. For doing this, she was brutally whipped. Being very upset, Alice dicides to try and run away. Most slaves that try to run away end up dead after a few days; because their master will hunt them down. When her master finds Alice, he sets his dogs on her. They tear and rip at her, but she doesn't die. This further shows how slavery was a large mistake we made in history.

One last character I would like to point out is Polly. He wanted to be a breeder, but they refused him because he wasn't strong or good working enough. After being turned down, he met a girl. Every night, Polly met with her; but one night, he fell asleep in her arms, and couldn't get back to his master's house in time. The master had Polly's genitikia removed in a horrifying manner.

In this Gary Paulsen's Nightjohn, he was obviuosly sending us a message that slavery was a horrible past we had. He wanted to clearly show us examples of what we did to other living beings. Nobody diserves to live like that. To conclude, Sarny ends up learning how to read, and eventually helps Nightjohn teach other slaves how to read.