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Sarney In Night John Gary Paulsen

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Sarney In Night John Gary Paulsen
Do you think slavery right or wrong the choice is up to you. In the book NightJohn Gary Paulsen depicts the life of a slave through a twelve year old slave child. The twelve year old slave child’s name is Sarney and her job is to tend to the gardens in front of the “white house” were her owner Waller and his wife live. Gary Paulsen develops the character of Sarney in NightJohn through her actions and her dialect to depict the life and knowledge of a slave.

Gary Paulsen uses Sarney’s actions to show how much she dislikes being a slave. Sarney doesn’t like being a slave because of Waller. She calls Waller bad names when he's not around, like dog droppings. For example Sarney works in the garden next to the “white house” and was told that learning things is very bad but she listens to the conversations of the women in the house above the garden anyway. She also found a penny and hides it in the dirt because she knows if Waller finds the penny he will take it away from her. These examples show how much Sarney dislikes being a slave by showing that she wants to learn but is not allowed to and wants to keep things like the penny but is only allowed clothing to wear. In conclusion Gary Paulsen does an outstanding job depicting the the hardships of Sarney’s life and how much she dislikes being a slave through her actions.
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Sarney uses a different dialect than we do because she was never taught how to read or write and how to use correct grammar due to the lack of education of slaves. When Sarney speaks she her sentences sometimes have double negatives. Another example is that Sarney calls her adopted mother, mammy. These examples show the lack of education of the slaves by showing that Sarney does not know how to use correct grammar. In conclusion Gary Paulsen shows the lack of education throughout the slaves well by using the dialect of a twelve year old slave

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