Gary Paulsen's Nightjohn

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave and the movie Nightjohn are similar in a number of ways. First, they both are about slaves that have to deal with hardships and tough lessons. Another critical similarity is both masters were merciless and controlling white men who opposed their slaves learning to read. An equally important similarity is both main characters wouldn't give up in their hunt to become readers. Finally, both works share a mistress that was kind in the beginning, but later showed her real self as their cruelty came out from the shadows into the light.

Nightjohn is a book about a slave who has gone through so much, he ran away from his plantation, made it all the way North and became free, but turned around and came back to teach other slaves how to read and write. He taught Sarny how to read and write for tobacco the first night he was at the plantation, and helped her get through tough times by reading, writing, and teaching her valuable lessons throughout the book. Although Nightjohn was trying to be a nice person and teach them how to read and write if they got caught the consequences would be horrible.

In Chapter 4 of Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen, Sarny begins to tell about gruesome events that teach the reader about how rough slavery truly was. The first person Sarny mentions was Alice who wanders around without doing much more was caught near the whitehouse. She was then handcuffed and whipped, and when it was all set and done she had massive cuts on her back and all over her body. The next person she tells about was Jim who attempted to run away. That did not work out because Waller sent the dogs after him, and they tore his legs to shreds and left him on a tree to die. After Jim was Pawly who met with a girl every night, and one night while walking back after he fell asleep near the other plantation the dogs were sent after him and

NightJohn, a story written by Gary Paulsen.Clel Waller was a cruel man because of his punishment styles. Were these ways worth his time and were they necessary? Did Mr.Waller need slaves? Without the punishments the slaves might have not feared Mr.Waller. He instilled the feeling of fear to get the work done. The methods Clel Waller used are not appropriate. They are very cruel and offensive. Instead if slaves were rewarded the story could totally different. But also not only the slaves will be getting spoil by rewards the cruel punishment can harm the owners work done by slaves.

To display the common treatment of slaves, Douglass develops pathos when describing his first exposure to slavery and the brutal treatment of Aunt Hester. He gives a detailed description of her “heart-rending shrieks” when she was forced to endure countless lashings and beatings (Douglass, 24). Additionally, he describes the mentality of Captain Anthony, the slave owner, by stating that “the louder [Hester] screamed, the harder he whipped” (Douglass, 23). By describing the punishments that his aunt was forced to face and the deliberateness of Captain Anthony’s actions, Douglass develops pathos, which exposes the audience to the harsh nature of slavery and makes them pity the slaves who were forced to endure this treatment. It shows the audience that slaves were forced to endure pain if they did not listen to their masters and could not

To continue his persuasion, Douglass uses selection of detail and different tones to make his view known. When describing some aspects of slavery, Douglass’ use of detail opens society’s eyes to injustice. In one case, when describing the whipping of his Aunt Hester, he includes details that encompass sight- “the warm, red blood… came dripping to the floor,” sound- “amid heart-rending shrieks,” and emotion- “I was so horror-stricken… I hid myself in a closet” (Douglass, 24). By including facts covering many senses, he provides the reader a chance to piece together the scene, giving them perspective. If society has all the details, it becomes easier for them to pass an accurate judgment of slavery. His detail, or lack thereof,

In these two tales of brutal bondage, Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Frederick Douglass' Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the modern reader can decipher two vastly different experiences from circumstances that were not altogether that dissimilar. Both narratives tell the story of a slave gaining his or her freedom from cruel masters, yes, but that is where the most prominent similarities end. Not only are they factually different, these stories are entirely distinct in their themes.

Even though bith authors had these many core similarities they are both fundamentally different stories because of the simple reason that their gnders are different. Jacobs and Douglass simply write the female and male versions of slavery. The life of female slaves and male slaves were two totally different monsters and this difference is reflected in the slaves narratives of bothh authors.

This is an essay about NightJohn and how he needed to use Bravery, leadership, and freedom to gain control. NightJohn is a book about slavery and not just any slaves but NightJohn and Sarny.

The young adult novel Nightjohn depicts the plight of enslaved African-Americans from the point-of-view of an adolescent so that readers can feel as well as learn about the difficulties experienced by slaves in the antebellum south. The book revolves around the prohibition of teaching slaves how to read. In the novel, a former escaped slave named John teaches a young girl named Sarney how to read. John or 'Nightjohn' as he is called, slips into the slave barracks at night when the whites of the plantation are sleeping, and attempts to spread empowering knowledge to his people. John could have remained safe in the north but he chose to return because of his belief in the power of the written word.

Night john was a book about a escaped slave. He went back into the south to help other slaves escape. He taught slaves to be able to read and write. The NightJohn book was published in 1993 and the movie was created in 1996. There was bravery and prejudice even the feeling of freedom in this book and movie. NightJohn was a brave man even with the risk of slavery over his head.

Fight for What is Right Fight for what you believe in while using your passion. When you believe in something so strongly, you must use your knowledge and passion to inspire others. In the story NightJohn By Gary Paulsen, he shows that passion is the most important thing to carry with you no matter what you are going through. John, a bold slave with many scars from previous masters, is bought by Clel Waller onto his plantation to work in the fields.

Slavery was a challenging and uncomfortable life for the slaves such as Jacobs. Her mistress watched over her when she was sleeping trying to provoke Jacobs into accuse herself of attempting to seduce the mistress’s husband. Slave narratives have gothic elements to it because Jacobs was fearful of her life and her mistress watched over her when Jacobs was variable from being asleep. Jacobs describes how she was in her grandmother’s attic for seven years and

In Gary Paulsen’s Nightjohn, the common theme is every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This theme is presented in the text several times. Nightjohn is all about the life of a slave who is only a child. This child’s name is Sarny. One example of this theme is when a slave named Jim tried to run away.

Douglass gives detailed anecdotes of his and others experience with the institution of slavery to reveal the hidden horrors. He includes personal accounts he received while under the control of multiple different masters. He analyzes the story of his wife’s cousin’s death to provide a symbol of outrage due to the unfairness of the murderer’s freedom. He states, “The offence for which this girl was thus murdered was this: She had been set that night to mind Mrs. Hicks’s baby, and during the night she fell asleep, and the baby cried.” This anecdote, among many others, is helpful in persuading the reader to understand the severity of rule slaveholders hold above their slaves. This strategy displays the idea that slaves were seen as property and could be discarded easily.