Papers On Nightjohn By Gary Paulsen

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

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