Nightjohn By Gary Paulsen Sparknotes

The Truth of the Enslaved Surely, slavery was the most pervasive single issue in our past. In the historical “fiction” Nightjohn, by Gary Paulsen, the characters find ways to maneuver through their master’s system to learn and work together. John is a slave who started teaching Sarny, a young girl, to read and write. While conscious of harsh penalties, such as dismemberment, he willingly persists to teach children to learn. Despite the fact Gary Paulsen’s novel, Nightjohn, is considered historical fiction, the descriptions of children's lives, strong bonds, and desire to learn can be corroborated with numerous sources. For instance, children, in the times of slavery were completely clueless on the most simple privileges we overlook today.

Her mother was sold off while she was just an infant. So young-she doesn’t even remember her or what she looks like. Not only were they not aware of their original parents, they never were certain of their exact age. Sarny reveals her caretaker, Mammy, using sticks for all the children and adding one for each child at the beginning of every summer. In an interview, a former slave named Mingo White describes part of his experiences of being a child enduring slavery. He states, “My father and mother were sold from each other, too, at the same time as I was sold…”. The former slave’s experience of having his parents taken away from him clearly matches with Sarny’s mother also being sold from her. Mingo White would of also never had remembered them either, because he was sold when his parents were sold. Both Sarny and Mingo do not recall their actual parents because they were taken from them when they

Gary Paulsen shows in his novel that the whites and Sarny’s master absolutely restricts any form of education from the slaves. It was forbidden, and if they were caught leaning, he/she would suffer dire consequences. Because so many children could not stop their ambition to learn, some just like Sarny went to “pit schools” way out in the woods at night. Another abolitionist named Sojourner Truth also wrote her own autobiography about her enslaved life. She writes, “You have teachers for your children but who will teach the poor slave children?” Extremely similar to Sarny and her fellow enslaved people, they were not provided with any shape or form of education. The whites could learn about anything they pleased, but oh no...not the enslaved. Mandy Jones was also a former slave who grew up on a Mississippi plantation before the Civil War. While explaining how slaves found a way to educate themselves, she says, “Dey would dig pits, and kiver the spot wid bushes an’ vines. De slaves would slip out of the Quarters at night an’ go to dese pits, an’ some dat had some learnin’ would have a school.” When Comparing Gary Paulsen’s novel and the records from Mandy Jones, slaves could improve their knowledge by attending these handmade schools late at night in the woods. These sources are in complete agreement with each other and there is no denying