Courage In Nightjohn

Courage is key

Courage means the ability to do something that frightens one. When you have courage you can stand up to things that you know are wrong, but other people wouldn’t stand up to because they're scared of the consequences. There are some people that have the courage to do what others wouldn’t do. In the book NightJohn by Gary Paulsen, NightJohn and Sarny had the courage to do what other wouldn’t do. Throughout the book NightJohn and Sarny were the ones with the most courage. For example, on page 38 Sarny asks “Can you teach me those?” NightJohn says “I sure can.” NightJohn just said that he is taking the risk to teach Sarny to read. If NightJohn gets caught he could get whipped and beaten. Also if Sarny were to get caught writing
Mammy was the one getting blamed for teaching Sarny. NightJohn could’ve let Mammy get beaten for something she didn’t do but he didn’t - “She don’t know nothing. It was me that taught her” (page 72). Courage is what gave him the power to say that it was him. NightJohn knew the consequences for teaching Sarny to read and write, so he had to tell Waller that it was him no matter what the consequences were. Another example, of courage is when NightJohn ran away to go teach other people to read and write. It was even more courageous of him to come back at night and tell Sarny this “Follow me. We got to go so’s you can get back before first light” (page 85). NightJohn put his life at risk just to teach a girl to read and write, and risked her life just to live a little like the whites do. NightJohn didn’t have to come back to Sarny, but the amount of courage he has told him to go back, and make her happy and teach her. In the end, courage can help you through anything. The book NightJohn by Gary Paulsen, shows that you can because NightJohn and Sarny had really hard lives as being slaves, but managed to always have courage. If Sarny didn’t have the courage to ask NightJohn to teach her she would still not be able to read or write. Courage is what you