Nightjohn Themes

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.

A leader must be able to lead others, build trust, extend influence beyond the Chain of Command, lead by example, and communicate effectively. The ability to develop creates a positive environment, fosters Espirit de Corps, prepares self, develops others, and are stewards of the profession. Last but not least, effective leadership must achieve results.

One of the main themes throughout the book is the title of the book “Night”. There are references from Eliezer about night during the book, which are full of symbolism. The word “night” is used repeatedly, and Eliezer recounts every dusk, night and dawn through the entire book. For instance, Night could be a metaphor for the Holocaust—submerge the family and thousands of Jewish families in the darkness and misery of the concentration camps.

It takes a lot to be a leader. It takes experience, communication, positivity, passion, and much more to be an effective leader. Communication, positivity, and passion are the three most important characteristics to me. I represent all three of these with great pride. I communicate effectively whether it be in the classroom, on

My first theme is prejudice. It is never right for one individual to own another, or for one group of people to be denied equal rights because they are different in some way. In NightJohn, they were prejudice and made African American people be enslaved and work for them and treat them differently just because they were a different color than them. I’ve seen prejudice a lot all my life. Whether it’s for for colored people or gay people or whatever, in the end we’re all the same and should all be treated equally.

A leader must be courageous and brave enough to make decisions that could shape lives forever and make a prosperous and happy nation, as those men who wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were. The people should be able to trust the leaders, and the leader should be honest with the public. The head in command should be selfless and should not be doing something to gain money, popularity, or any other vain thing. He or she should also understand the public’s needs and should be hopeful about a good outcome during any trial. Intelligence is self

A good leader possess important characteristic traits that separates him from followers. Such as staying focus. Being a leader you cannot major in minor things. You have to think beyond what is expected. You have to show a vast amount of confidence and also integrity. One trait that makes a leader stand out from the crowd is the ability to lead by example. A leader instill confidence and have a clear vision on life. As a women leader, I feel that it is important to not only tell people that you are a leader but also be able to show them and interact with them with swag. When she walk into a building with grace and a light that shine bright. However, a true leader stands out at these things mentioned, making all the difference in driving to be successful.

Nightjohn, by Gary Paulsen is a story about a slave, Sarny who works on a plantation and meets this man named John, who knows letters of the alphabet, and he teaches her them. The theme of the text is that every action has a consequence. Evidence from the text to support this states, “Waller had to field hands to hold one of John’s feet on the block. He put the chisel to the middle toe and swung the hammer. Thunk.”

The theme of Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen is when faced with hardship always power through. In the text it states “He come at night. Tell us to learn some letters, then tell us to come here to school.” This quote shows shows that after Sarny sees what happened to Pawly she still want to sneak out of her plantation and come back in the morning. Pawly would sneak out to a girl’s plantation and, was caught in the morning; he was killed by the dogs later.

A well-researched knowledge-base is a necessity. Organization is also key to being a leader. A leader must plan thoroughly to properly direct the group. Even though careful planning is crucial, a leader must remain flexible when problems arise. Remaining humble is also important. Once a leader raises her/himself above the group, s/he will lose respect and will be seen as a ruler - and not a leader. A leader must see eye-to-eye with the group to retain an effective role. To manage the needs of the group, a leader must be trusting enough to allow others to help. If a leader makes all the decisions without the group’s input, or does not allow the group an active role, the group will no longer agree with the leader and will not feel valued. The leader’s effectiveness and respect form the group will the drop. The group must also trust the leader to make wise decisions. Despite the fact that these qualities are mostly seen when leading a cause, they can be extended to other roles of leadership.

A leader carries himself with high self-esteem giving out intelligent and well thought out answers and making the right decisions when needed this increases his reputation and subsequently transfers to his supporters who are at ease to know they have put their faith in the right leader (Northouse 2004 P.19) said that although it is important for a leader to be intelligent it is also important that he and his supporters are moving in the right direction together. Leaders who are very smart may have difficulties relating their ideas to their supporters this can lead to disagreements in the organisation. A leader has to understand what is required of him and how he can give effective leadership to his followers.

A leader needs to “believe” in oneself and have the confidence that whatever you say will excite and what you do can motivate others. You must be optimistic about what you do, do have some relevance for being in existence. Believe it or not, “leadership begins with you”.

If one has no leadership ability, one cannot be a leader. If one does not make what his or her followers consider the correct decisions to achieve their goals, no one will have faith in the leader's abilities and, consequently, no one will follow and without followers, there can be no leader. Another important criterion which one must have in order to be a leader is a person who leads a crowd in the direction where the goal can be accomplish as well as someone who acknowledges a problem and finds solutions to it.

“Leadership is more ability than job. Moreover, it is all about determination, ability to solve problems, set direction for followers, gather them for common purpose and motivating people to achieve tasks. Furthermore, it is a charisma and the ability to reacting at the right time for a particular competitive situation” (L.Mullins, 2010, P372).

Confidence, communication and commitment are just three of many traits that a leader possesses. Having those traits may help you become a leader but continuous hard work and dedication makes you one. To continue to be a leader you must also be intelligent, courageous, and determined. Becoming a leader is difficult but continuing to be one is even more difficult.