The book I read was Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen. In Nightjohn, a slave girl named Sarny is taught how to read and write by another slave named Nightjohn. Sarny slips up and writes a word in front of the slave master, Waller, can see. Waller blames Sarny, then Mammy until finally, Nightjohn says he taught Sarny. After Nightjohn’s injuries from his punishment, he escapes. He then comes back and takes Sarny to a school for slaves. The theme to me is one man can change lives.
One reason why one person can change the world is a theme can be found on page 38. To sum up the reading, NIghtjohn told Sarny about the alphabet and how you need to know it before you can read. The reason this shows the theme is NIghtjohn began to open doors for Sarny by helping her read and write.
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To paraphrase the text, NIghtjohn told Waller he was teaching Sarny how to read and right, not Mammy. This supports the theme because, Nightjohn took the blame for Mammy so she wouldn’t have to get whipped and beaten.
My final reason why the theme is one man can change lives is found on page 87. To paraphrase the reading, Sarny had thought John was going to leave and never come back but he did and took her to school. The reason this shows the theme is Sarny had realized how much reading and writing actually meant to John and how he’d risk anything for it.
In conclusion, the theme of the story is one man can change lives. Evidence to support this is, NIghtjohn told Sarny about the alphabet, Nightjohn confessed to Waller that he taught Sarny how to read and write and Nightjohn took Sarny to