Nightjohn Themes
Three Themes from Nightjohn
The time of slavery was very difficult. Slaves had to fight for what they believed in. In order to become free, the slaves had to take action. They couldn’t just sit around doing nothing and expect their life to get any better. In the book Nightjohn, three big themes were freedom, leadership, and bravery.
To be a free slave was a very fortunate thing. John escaped slavery and was free but he chose to go back into slavery just so he could teach reading and writing to other slaves. This book shows us how literacy was such a big part of the slaves lives and freedom. Many slaves who knew how to read and write were able to escape and help others escape. Almost always the key to freedom was by reading and writing, …show more content…
that's why slave owners did not want their slaves to be educated. Sarny was so eager to learn how to read and write. These days a lot of us don’t realize how lucky we are to be able to get a free education starting at such a young age.
Nightjohn was definitely a leader among the slaves.
He had the slaves respect because of how kind and smart he was. To be a leader you have to be very outgoing and brave. Nightjohn came back into slavery from freedom just to teach others, that is what made him a great leader. Waller’s oldest son was also a leader. He chose to not be like his father and he chose to treat the slaves better. Sometimes to be a leader you have to be different than everyone else. Sarny and her mammy were both very brave. A slave learning to read and write was not rewarded well by the master but, Sarny was brave enough to learn in secret. She learned so she could write about how the slaves were treated and others can read about the awful experiences the slaves went through. Her mammy was very brave as well. When Sarny got caught writing in the dirt, mammy took the blame even though nightjohn was the one teaching her. If slaves and abolitionists were afraid to stand up for what they believed in, slavery could still be going on today.
As you can see, to survive slavery the slaves had to work very hard. Nightjohn was an example of all three of the attributes. He was brave, he was a leader, and he helped slaves on their road to freedom. Because of people like him, people willing to fight for what they believed in, slavery finally came to an end in
1965.
The time of slavery was very difficult. Slaves had to fight for what they believed in. In order to become free, the slaves had to take action. They couldn’t just sit around doing nothing and expect their life to get any better. In the book Nightjohn, three big themes were freedom, leadership, and bravery.
To be a free slave was a very fortunate thing. John escaped slavery and was free but he chose to go back into slavery just so he could teach reading and writing to other slaves. This book shows us how literacy was such a big part of the slaves lives and freedom. Many slaves who knew how to read and write were able to escape and help others escape. Almost always the key to freedom was by reading and writing, …show more content…
that's why slave owners did not want their slaves to be educated. Sarny was so eager to learn how to read and write. These days a lot of us don’t realize how lucky we are to be able to get a free education starting at such a young age.
Nightjohn was definitely a leader among the slaves.
He had the slaves respect because of how kind and smart he was. To be a leader you have to be very outgoing and brave. Nightjohn came back into slavery from freedom just to teach others, that is what made him a great leader. Waller’s oldest son was also a leader. He chose to not be like his father and he chose to treat the slaves better. Sometimes to be a leader you have to be different than everyone else. Sarny and her mammy were both very brave. A slave learning to read and write was not rewarded well by the master but, Sarny was brave enough to learn in secret. She learned so she could write about how the slaves were treated and others can read about the awful experiences the slaves went through. Her mammy was very brave as well. When Sarny got caught writing in the dirt, mammy took the blame even though nightjohn was the one teaching her. If slaves and abolitionists were afraid to stand up for what they believed in, slavery could still be going on today.
As you can see, to survive slavery the slaves had to work very hard. Nightjohn was an example of all three of the attributes. He was brave, he was a leader, and he helped slaves on their road to freedom. Because of people like him, people willing to fight for what they believed in, slavery finally came to an end in
1965.