Nightjohn was such a powerful book it talked about so many things. It showed what life as a slave was like, to help you understand. There were many themes, but the 3 themes that I felt was the most important was bravery, freedom, and leadership. I feel like the story was mainly about those themes, but it was also about so much more. After reading the book I understand more what it was like to be a slave and I hope no one has to be treated like that ever again. Bravery! In the story Nightjohn in the other slaves used bravery over and over again. Have used it every time they had to do something they were not supposed to. They used to it every time they were getting punished and stayed quiet. They use bravery for lots of other things in their life. are use bravery in my life every time I was learning to ride my skateboard when I fell in front of people and they laughed. I had the bravery to get up and keep trying not quit and say I can't do this. That might not seem brave to some people, but it was to me because I care what my peers think about me something. Freedom, and the story Nightjohn got free. Lives the life of a free slave, but he comes back to teach the slaves. Hardly any slaves are free they wish, …show more content…
Reading the book and thinking about the themes had an effect on my life now I know what it’s like and I’m never going to forget it. It changed my mindset about life, not to take advantage of the little things in life we all take advantage of everyday. To be thankful and grateful we are free and have everything we have. To remember it was not always like this and to hope no one will be treated that way again. Also to remember it was not to long ago that it was this way and whites treated blacks this way, people no matter their race was treated this way is just crazy to think about. Sometimes I can’t believe someone was treated that way, but know I understand more thanks to this
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.
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.
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.
Nightjohn was influenced by real slave interviews. One of the interviews in the archive is an interview from Uncle Billy McCrea. McCrea said,”...they’d take them, hang them up by his thumb.” In the story Nightjohn, one
No one likes being treated poorly. Throughout history, countless wars have been fought, whether they had a reason or not. Many people have suffered due to these wars. People have become POW’s (prisoners of war), have lost their homes because of the conflicts, and have even had to leave their homelands. Take this more relevant example in Syria, for example. Thousands of Syrians are leaving their households to escape the everlasting conflicts of war. Just like in history’s past wars, many civilians have been forced to leave their homes in order to stay safe. Modern and past wars seem to repeat themselves in a way. The theme of Elie Wiesel’s book Night is to show that through dehumanization, there is more silence, less faith, and an eternity of night.
Bravery-NightJohn was brave by teaching people to be literate. Slaves could be brave by trying
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.
The reason I chose this book was because the title jumped up at me and my curiosity was aroused. I wanted to find out more about it. I was also drawn to the fact that the book was based on a true story. True stories interest me a lot and I instantly knew that I wanted to read this book. I also noticed that the book was a best seller and sold thousands of copies. As I read this book I’m glad that I choose it because it broadened my perspective on racism and the lengths that an individual is willing to go to in order to personally experience or understand a situation. This book has clearly
Reading the content in this book made me get a picture of what it was like to be a colored person in this time. My eyes were opened to the meaning of the word “nigga”. Nigga is such a derogatory term, yet now-a-days it is used by people so much. Kids in this generation use it as a term of endearment when they see their friends, or they say it when they are shocked by something. Frankly, I don’t believe they know how serious it really is. The fact that white people could look at a person and see less than a human being when they did nothing wrong distresses me. They (white people) treated them as if they were property and below them. Even though we don’t have racism to this extent
Truly the book had shown me that African-Americans were not the only people that were oppressed by Whites, but also Mexicans as well and they lynched not as much as African-Americans and all the attention was put on the South, Honestly, I’ve known that Mexicans were discriminated not lynched, and I felt as though that indeed there was too much emphasis on African-Americans more than Mexicans, which is probably why I have never known of the lynching in the US South west. All of the severe punishments that came with the crimes remineded of Draco’s law (Draco was a Greek who wrote his laws so severe it was said that they were written in blood, sounds cliché but it’s true). Anyway, this book was excellent and I had learned a lot from it, it made feel like that I really did ignore the innocent, mostly, people that killed for crimes that they did not commit or wrongfully accused. Just comes to show me how poorly taught I was back then, but now I know and I will use this knowledge to tell others that other people were also lynched, not just one group over all. I really appreciated what the book presented to me about the misfortunates of foreigners living in another country whose people hate because they are from other places, not the native land. Truly it shed some light into my learning experience when studying the
NightJohn Essay In the United States, there has been unfair things to many people and unfair treatment to one another. In the book called NightJohn it is about slavery and how the people that were once enslaved were being treated poorly and unfair compared to others. They would be separated from their families and suffer brutal punishments. Although Gary Paulsen’s novel, Nightjohn, is considered historical fiction, the descriptions of broken Family Structures , harsh Restrictions, and brutal Punishments can be corroborated with multiple sources.
NightJohn Theme Essay In the book NightJohn there is a couple of slaves that do not quite corporate for their owner all of hte time. One of the big things slaves under this specific owner talked about was freedom. Freedom was something that was very deep in there mind and was like a dream to them. Another thing that these slaves had a problem with was getting along with others.
NightJohn had a huge impact on many people, and many people call him family. He could change your mind and the way you see things in a second. NightJohn was always a very hopeful person and he never gave up. He didn’t stop even if he wanted to or if he was feeling weak. NightJohn was worked to the bone and didn’t stop trying to change people’s life around him. You could always count on NightJohn to help you when you’re in trouble.
I found this book to be an eye opener to many things that I never really paid attitude to. We all want to believe that where we come from and who we are does not affect what we will be come. Yes all have heard it before you can be what you want to be as long as you work hard for it. But really many things that people would like to be are out of reached for the simple fact that you are not in the right class of people. Even thought
Night by Elie Wiesel was one of the best books I have ever read. Night is the story about Elie’s horrible time spent in Auschwitz and Buna the death camps. This story impacted me the most because all of this is real. Elie’s mother and sister were murdered as soon as they arrived. The story goes on telling his unimaginable experiences with his father in 1944 during the Holocaust.