Nightjohn Theme

In chapter 4 of Nightjohn, by Gary Paulsen, many terrifying events happened. Alice, a field hand that became a breeder, ran away after being forced to breed. She didn’t get far, so she was eaten up by Clel Waller’s dogs; she didn’t die, but she was cut up very bad. Sarny, a 12 year old narrator, recalls two slaves that ran away and what happened to them. Jim ran away and when he was caught the next morning, he got eaten up by the dogs and died there. Pawley was sneaking out to meet up with a female slave on a different plantation; when he was caught, he got bitten the by the dogs, and got a big cut from Waller, so he bled to death. The night Alice ran away, Sarny learned the second and third letter of the alphabet from Nightjohn. Nightjohn

Introduction Plan “When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw” - Nelson Mandela In the captivating novel NightJohn there is a character named Clel Waller who plays a significant role in the story. Clel Waller is an important character to discuss because of his actions and the impact he has on others. Throughout the text, Clel Waller's choices and behavior reveal the harsh reality of slavery and the lengths some individuals would go to maintain control and power.

In the novel Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen, the common theme tackle adversity when times get rough is conveyed throughout the story. Many events that occur often show many adversity the slaves had to overcome by accepting horrific punishments. For instance, when Sarny the protagonist of the story begins to learn new letters and words from Nightjohn, she gets very excited that she scribbled the word “Bag” in the dirt, but was caught doing so by the slaves’ master Clel Waller. “ Tell what your doing… I didn’t say anything… What are you scribbling in the dirt… I thought I’ll lie (Paulsen 62). Sarny was caught scribbling the new word, and she tried to avoid the trouble she had just created, by lying to Waller. Although, Sarny had thought for a mere second that her

When the master had no answers for who was teaching Sarny, he instantly took Sarny’s mammy and hung her by her hands and let her hang there for a few days until he grabbed her and made her pull the buggy she was in pain and nightJohn could see it, so he said “wait! Don’t punish her, i was the one who taught the child”. The master ordered hands to chop off nightJohn’s two middle toes (pages 71-74). If nightJohn hadn't spoken for the master to stop, mammy would have probably died. nightJohn had the courage to speak up for

Nightjohn, a novel written by Gary Paulsen is set in the south during the time of slavery and tells about a young slave girl, Sarny, who is taught to read by another slave, Nightjohn. Nightjohn has escaped to the North where he became taught to examine, however, he maintains coming back to the south to in addition train the slaves of the plantations. Nightjohn meets Sarny and convinces her that she have to discover ways to study, understanding the effects. Nightjohn makes Sarny promise that she will never say or write the letters that he is coaching her. Sarny is a slave that is curious, willing to learn and she came out weird.

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.

Nightjohn was a great book due to it’s deep and heavy themes and concepts as well as it’s excellent storytelling based on a true story. This is all true and very obvious to the reader but what makes this book so enjoyable to audiences? Let’s dig deeper into the themes of Nightjohn.

The book Night is a story of family, religion, violence, and hope. This book tells the story of Elie Wiesel’s journey through the holocaust. During the novel, Wiesel writes with the purpose of teaching us several lessons. This lesson is conveyed through Wiesel’s actions, other character’s actions, as well as quotations. The lesson Wiesel taught in Night is to persevere and never lose hope up no matter how hopeless the situation may seem.

Night is a novel written from the perspective of a Jewish teenager, about his experiences as a prisoner during the Holocaust. The guy who wrote “Night” named Eliezer. He grew up in Sighet. As Eliezer relates in Night, the SS forced Jews to break dietary laws, and deliberately shaved their heads and tattooed them in violation of Jewish Scripture and forced to stay in ghetto or concentration camp. Eliezer’s descriptions of his behavior toward his father seem to invalidate his guilty feelings. He depends on his father for support, and his love for his father allows him to endure. Eliezer’s father, Shlomo, is the only other constant presence in the work. However, whereas Eliezer develops throughout the work, experiencing horrible revelations and changes, Eliezer’s father remains a fairly static character, an older man who loves his son and depends upon him for support. He mentions sons horribly mistreating fathers.

Standing up for what is right is one theme that is shown numerous times as the book progresses. As you are reading the novel, you see several characters stand up for what they think is right. The Hubermann family decides to help a Jewish man hide from the soldiers by letting him live in their basement. If the family were to get caught they would be in major trouble for hiding a Jewish man. Hans Hubermann also gives an old man (that is too weak to walk) a slice of bread while the Jews walk to the concentration camp. Right after Hans gets whipped by a soldier and starts to regret what he has done. Even though he regrets what he has done, he did it because he cared for everyone even if they were Jewish. Children like Rudy Steiner and Liesel Meminger pass slices of bread out to some of the jews walking by. They get caught and chased into the woods by soldiers. When children were living in this time period, they would have to grow up really fast because of what was happening around them. This shows children that they can do things to help people that truly do need

Authors develop many themes in stories by giving characters certain traits or by putting them in certain situations. A theme shows the true meaning behind the story. In the novel Night by Elie Wiesel a theme of violence is expressed. He shows how the theme of violence affects himself and others throughout the novel.

Although this had happened, Nightjohn continued to teach Sarny. This proves that Nightjohn believes knowledge is the key to helping slaves become

Miss. Nelson is Missing is a simple, light-hearted play based on the children's book of the same name. This play is about seven boisterous elementary school students who have driven their teacher, Miss. Nelson, insane by rejecting her many attempts at making learning fun, disobeying and belittling her. Miss Nelson is put under a lot of pressure by Principal Humleker to ensure that every one of her students earns an A on their exam. Miss. Nelson is a kind and caring teacher who only wants the best for her students. However, Miss Nelson has reached the end of her rope with these children when they take advantage of her good nature. As a last resort, she disguises herself as Viola Swamp, a ruthless substitute teacher to scare her students into learning everything they need to know for the test; and maybe a thing or two about respect.

The author of the book Night is Elie Wiesel and the main character is Eliezer. The title Night points out to the darkness of mind, life and soul experienced by everyone who had suffered in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. The theme of Night is Eliezer’s difficulty to maintain his faith in God. In the book Night, Eliezer’s faith fades away by seeing the horrible conditions of his surroundings, the painful deaths of many innocent people and by persecution.

In Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen there is a theme that flows through the whole story. That theme would be that reading and writing are crucial. This is shown throughout the story, and example of this would be, “We all have to read and write so we can write about this-what they doing to us. It has to be written.” (paulsen 58). This quote is clearly showing that writing and reading is very important to everyone. They want to learn no matter the cost, even if it is to lose a their thumbs. Similar to this it states, “He put the chisel to the middle toe and swung the hammer. Thunk.”(Paulsen 74). This quote is showing the effects of learning how to read and write, even though this is happening Nightjohn still wants to teach others about reading and writing.