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Papers On Nightjohn By Gary Paulsen

1219 Words5 Pages

In the history of the United States, America wasn’t always “the land of the free.” A tragic, beastly action was seen as a good thing to do, treating people as unwanted animals. For 245 years, America dehumanized a group of people, put them to work from dusk to dawn, and tortured them, just because of the color of their skin. This is thoroughly demonstrated in Gary Paulsen’s historical fiction novel, NightJohn, where the act of slavery and all the details to it are clearly pictured, from working in fields to getting flesh ripped off by ferocious dogs. In these descriptions, we witness the brutal punishments, the ways around harsh restrictions, and the support people had for each other during tragedy. Although NightJohn is considered historical …show more content…

In NightJohn, Sarny was being taken care of by a woman named Delie. She was not Sarny’s birthmother. When Sarny was born, she was sold away from her mother. Delie helped Sarny and supported her by becoming a mother figure to her. Fragmented families and support was accurately depicted in NightJohn. In an autobiography by former slave and abolitionist, Frederick Douglass, it was stated that, “My mother and I were separated when I was an infant..Frequently, before the child reached its twelfth month, its mother is taken away from it… and the child is placed under the care of an old woman…” As can be seen, the support that Douglass explains is identical to what Gary Paulsen communicated in NightJohn. Frederick Douglass had first-hand involvement with being separated from his parents. He also had experience with the support given from the other slaves by taking care of him. When he was dragged away from is parents, we was given comfort, allowing him to make new relationships with fellow slaves. Another source that verified the disunited families and support given was in an interview with Mingo White, a former slave. He said, “When I was about four or five years old, I was loaded in a wagon…The only caring I had or ever knew anything about was given to me by a friend of my father.” He demonstrates that he was bought away from his family and brought to a different plantation. Since he was so young, another slave took care of him and took the role as his father, showing the support they had for each other during the time of tragedy. This is interchangeable to the ideas in NightJohn with Sarny and Delie’s family-like relationship. A majority of families in slavery were sold away from each other, but within these fractured families, new relationships formed, showing the care people had for each other. This concept was accurately illustrated in

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1278 Words | 6 Pages

Worse than Slavery, by David Oshinsky, is a novel about post-Civil War America, and the life it gave free African Americans in Mississippi and other parts of the South. Oshinsky writes about the strict laws and corrupt criminal justice system blacks faced after they were freed, and while the contents of the book are not typically read about in history textbooks, it is important to understand what life was like for the freedman. Anyone interested in reading his book would profit from it. With the end of the Civil War came the destruction of the old system of slavery. Many white Southerner’s were outraged, but were forced to accept the newly freed blacks.

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407 Words | 2 Pages

Numerous things have occurred in history that most people either believes is false, or denies that it has happened, one of which being slavery. In the realistic fiction novel NightJohn by Gary Paulsen, Paulsen describes the life of Sarny as she goes through the struggle of being slave. Information such as brutality, family seperation, and acts of kindness can be corroborated with Nightjohn through Fredrick Douglass, Mingo White, and Solomon Northup. Multiple examples of brutality can be seen in Nightjohn, the most prominent being whipping and the use of dogs to hunt down slaves. The first act of brutality to be read is whipping, where Sarny reports that slaves would be whipped for going too slow.

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76 Words | 1 Pages

Douglass’s biological father is unknown, but there is a suspicion the father was his slave master. (Douglass Narrative 15)

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595 Words | 3 Pages

FREDRICK DOUGLASS AND HARRIET JACOBS Slavery and its long brutalizing history. Deep, bloody gashes to an inch-wide or more whip and scarred. Cold with barley enough clothes to cover them in the winter or year round. Half-fed left to starve. Rape, murder, beaten on a daily basis to death.

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1353 Words | 6 Pages

It did not throw him for a loop nor did he feel bad for not being there. The slaveholders probably separated families so that they could not team up and run away. They did not want them to connect with anyone or build enough trust. What the slaveholders failed to realize is that they would eventually build relationships with the people around them. If anything, being around each other made the process of being a slave go easier.

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334 Words | 2 Pages

In addition to limited clothing, their repeated separation also forces numerous hardships on slaves. Douglass himself describes two types of separation slaves can possibly undergo during their enslaved life. First type would be familial, and although Douglass conveys little emotional response to his early familial separation, he does mention how for others who experience the separation at a latter age are accosted with more grief. One subtle example he provides of this agonizing is his mom, as he illustrates how her death had “ended…her hardships and suffering.”

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691 Words | 3 Pages

NightJohn Simply, regret is a traumatizing emotion for people to have. Many African Americans were a very common target to become slaves and servants to mostly all white men due to the color of their skin. The cause of slavery, the abominable wrong doing on America’s behalf tore apart the equality of men. Although Gary Paulsen’s novel, NightJohn, is considered historical fiction, the descriptions of supporting to one another, brutal punishments, and harsh restrictions can be corroborated with multiple sources.

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188 Words | 1 Pages

The chapter illustrates the search from the stories of freed slaves reuniting with parents and siblings. Perceived as triumphal experiences, family

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814 Words | 4 Pages

In the 1700-1800’s, the use of African American slaves for backbreaking, unpaid work was at its prime. Despite the terrible conditions that slaves were forced to deal with, slave owners managed to convince themselves and others that it was not the abhorrent work it was thought to be. However, in the mid-1800’s, Northern and southern Americans were becoming more aware of the trauma that slaves were facing in the South. Soon, an abolitionist group began in protest, but still people doubted and questioned it.

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1049 Words | 5 Pages

Group Essay on Frederick Douglass “That this little book may do something toward throwing light on the American slave system”, and that Frederick Douglass does in his eponymous autobiography. Douglass throws light by dispelling the myths of the slave system, which received support from all parts of society. To dispel these myths Douglass begins to construct an argument composed around a series of rhetorical appeals and devices. Douglass illustrates that slavery is dehumanizing, corrupting, and promotes Christian hypocrisy. Using telling details, Douglass describes the dehumanizing effects of the slave system which condones the treatment of human beings as property.

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712 Words | 3 Pages

Douglass was treated the same as a rock for all of his life, and that caused him to want to get out of slavery and escape into the real

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498 Words | 2 Pages

Douglass tells about his own childhood and how his father might have been a slaveholder. He explains

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1079 Words | 5 Pages

Reasons to secede Though there could be listed many reasons why the southern states chose to secede. As stated in the introduction of this paper, the primary one that many historians refer to is slavery. This paper will explain why slavery was such a big reason for the secession. In addition to that, it will examine two other reasons, namely, economy and the rights of states. Of course, these are linked to slavery, and all the reasons will be more of a continuation of each other, and are simply different aspects of the same answer.

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753 Words | 4 Pages

Frederick Douglass’s narrative provides a first hand experience into the imbalance of power between a slave and a slaveholder and the negative effects it has on them both. Douglass proves that slavery destroys not only the slave, but the slaveholder as well by saying that this “poison of irresponsible power” has a dehumanizing effect on the slaveholder’s morals and beliefs (Douglass 40). This intense amount of power breaks the  kindest heart and changes the slaveholder into a heartless demon (Douglass 40). Yet these are not the only ways that Douglass proves what ill effect slavery has on the slaveholder. Douglass also uses deep characterization, emotional appeal, and religion to present the negative effects of slavery.

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1642 Words | 7 Pages

From this, derives a bond with the reader that pushes their understanding of the evil nature of slavery that society deemed appropriate therefore enhancing their understanding of history. While only glossed over in most classroom settings of the twenty-first century, students often neglect the sad but true reality that the backbone of slavery, was the dehumanization of an entire race of people. To create a group of individuals known for their extreme oppression derived from slavery, required plantation owner’s of the South to constantly embedded certain values into the lives of their slaves. To talk back means to be whipped.

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