Nightjohn

“I thinks of all the things I have learned that day and then I tries to add them to the things I learned the day before and then the day before that.”

Sarny’s nightly routine of compiling newfound knowledge shows her proclivity for learning. Even without Nightjohn’s teaching or access to school, Sarny hungers to learn. Gary Paulsen demonstrates the human desire to understand, showing readers the value of access to education.

“I was small then and didn’t know about being free, or even how to think about being free, or even what being free meant. So I asked her what free meant.”

Mammy is reluctant to explain freedom to Sarny, telling her that she will learn about it when she is older. In other words, Mammy wants to protect Sarny from things that could get her in trouble. Sarny’s lack of knowledge about freedom shows the extent to which slaves were cut off from reality. Slave owners did everything in their power to prevent slaves from having any kind of hope for a better life.

“His back was all over scars from old whippings. The skin across his shoulders and down was raised in ripples, thick as my hand, up and down his back and onto his rear end and down his legs some.”

When Nightjohn arrives at the plantation, his back reveals a lifetime of punishments—a lifetime of having been caught breaking rules. Later, the scars become a symbol of courage and undaunted passion. Despite the risk of suffering further punishment, Nightjohn continues to take risks for the good of his fellow slaves.

“I’m brown. Same as dark sassafras tea. But I had seen black people, true black. And Nightjohn was that way. Beautiful. So black he was like the marble stone by the front of the white house; so black it seemed I could see inside, down into him. See almost through him somehow.”

Sarny’s description of Nightjohn’s black skin frames dark skin as beautiful and worthy of admiration. This contrasts with the views of Southern slave owners, who believed that people with dark skin were somehow “lesser” than people with white skin. Paulsen uses this juxtaposition to subvert the historical view of dark skin.

“Two times a day at the wooden trough—that’s how we eat.”

Paulsen uses Sarny’s narration to illustrate everyday conditions for slaves. This description of eating meals from a trough contributes to The Dehumanizing Cruelty of Slavery. It suggests that slaves were considered more animal than human, and therefore forced to eat like animals.

“Even do they have to do their business they dig a hole with their hoe and do it standing and cover it with dirt and get back to work.”

Field workers were denied breaks; instead, they ate a midday snack and went to the bathroom while standing in the field. This example of working conditions shows how slaves were afforded no human dignity—and were exploited in every way possible.

“I knew about reading. It was something that the people in the white house did from paper. They could read words on paper. But we weren’t allowed to be reading. We weren’t allowed to understand or read nothing but once I saw some funny lines on the side of a feed sack.”

This quote demonstrates that slaves were prohibited from reading. It also shows Sarny’s desire to learn. Not only did she notice the label on a feed sack, but she copied it in the dirt despite not understanding what it meant. Even without a teacher, Sarny demonstrates curiosity and a promising capacity for retaining knowledge.

“Don’t. They catch you doing that and they’ll think you’re learning to read. You learn to read and they’ll whip you till your skin hangs like torn rags. Or cut your thumb off. Stay away from writing and reading.”

Mammy discourages Sarny from reading and writing in order to protect her; she has Sarny’s best interests at heart. However, Nightjohn’s words change Mammy’s mind about what is truly best for Sarny. She realizes that literacy is worth the risk of punishment, as it offers hope for the future.

“‘Cause to know things, for us to know things, is bad for them. We get to wanting and when we get to wanting it’s bad for them. They thinks we want what they got.”

Nightjohn answers Sarny’s question about why slaves are not allowed to read. After Sarny learns her first letter, she cannot understand why a seemingly harmless practice would be prohibited. Nightjohn’s response reveals that slave owners seek to keep slaves under their control by taking away all opportunities for self-improvement.

“They had rings of iron to be made in the walls many years past, big rings of iron with chains and shackles and they put Alice there and tore her clothes off.”

The presence of iron rings in the stone walls indicates that slavery—and cruel punishments for slaves—have existed for decades. Physical punishments for slaves are so ingrained in society that even building construction anticipated locations for whippings.

“We had to watch. Every time there was somebody to be on the wall of the spring house and be whipped or other punishments we all had to watch.”

Forcing slaves to watch their friends suffer is another form of cruelty used by slave owners to create fear and squash hope. This practice reinforces the slave owner’s position as master and the slaves as helpless. Every opportunity is taken to reinforce the master’s rule and humiliate their slaves.

“I heard talk once of some land, some land north but it’s far way and it was only talk. Not something to know. Just something to hear. Like birds singing, the talk of the land north, or the wind in the trees.”

This quote shows a way in which slaves were cut off from hope and reality on plantations in the south. Sarny doesn’t realize that she would be considered free in the north, seeing running away as hopeless because she doesn’t even know freedom exists. Slave owners intentionally kept slaves in the dark and cut off from the real world to maintain power.

“He let the dogs to have her. Didn’t matter what she’d gone through, or that her thinking wasn’t working right.”

Alice suffers from mental instability, yet Waller does not make any exceptions for her or show mercy. Furthermore, he exacerbated her mental issues by exposing her to further trauma in the breeding shed. Waller’s treatment of Alice highlights his extreme cruelty and lack of compassion.

“We all have to read and write so we can write about this—what they doing to us. It has to be written.”

Nightjohn’s words to Mammy reveal his wisdom. He sees the big picture behind reading and writing: Literacy is a powerful means through which slaves can share their stories with the world and bring about change.

“Holds me up. Closer. Stink of his breath in my face. White stink. Pig stink.”

Sarny’s descriptions of Waller equate whiteness with revulsion. In this way, Paulsen subverts the societal view at the time that white skin was superior to black skin. Sarny also compares Waller to an animal. This is ironic, as Waller treats the slaves more like animals than humans.

“Big boots. Black boots but wrong kind of black. Bad black, not good black like John. Mammy. Me.”

Once again, Sarny’s view of the color black contradicts that of her contemporaries. On Waller, however, the color black is “wrong” as it connotes evil—whereas in Sarny’s eyes, black is normally a color of goodness and safety. It is the color of the people she loves.

“Waller looked at him the way a cat looks at a mouse caught in a corner. He smiled. Ugly smile.”

Waller’s evil smile shows that he takes pleasure in physically punishing his slaves. This reinforces the wicked nature of his character. Paulsen offers no redemption for Waller in either Sarny’s eyes or the reader’s.

“It is against the law for you to read. To know any letters. To know any counting is wrong. Punishment, according to the law, is removal of an extremity.”

Waller’s pronouncement before cutting off Nightjohn’s middle toes reveals that slaves were barred from reading and writing by law. This cruelty is not an anomaly; rather, such extreme punishment was condoned by law to keep slaves ignorant and in line.

“You were always going. When you came here they brought you in the collar. You are born to leave.”

Mammy hasn’t known Nightjohn for long, but she reads his character easily and accurately. She understands that his fiery spirit can’t be tamed or held captive on the plantation for long.

“Man gets out of here, I thought, gets clear again, he won’t never come be here again. Never coming back. Not unless the dogs catched him.” 

Sarny has no reason to believe that Nightjohn will fulfill his promise to return to the plantation after escaping. This makes his eventual return even more shocking and admirable. The diction in this quote also demonstrates Sarny’s grammar and manner of speech, which capture the imperfect manner in which real-life slaves spoke.

“There is light, bright yellow from three pitch torches being held by three people. But there’s more people there. Same as all on one hand, thumb and the one next to it on the other.”

Sarny doesn’t know how to count, so she uses her fingers to signify numbers. This practice can be seen elsewhere in the novel and emphasizes her lack of access to basic knowledge—yet, it also reveals her intelligence in finding alternate means of expression without having learned them formally.

“I didn’t know what a school was, what it was supposed to be. This was slats of brush dragged and pushed over a ditch, thicker and thicker and closed in on the ends. Be a pit. Pit school.”

Since Sarny has never attended school before, she has no concept of what a school should look like. For the reader, however, Sarny’s description of Nightjohn’s secret school contrasts with a typical school setting. The students must meet under the cover of night, outdoors, in a ditch. Despite these conditions, Sarny appreciates her school. Paulsen shows that attending school is a privilege and should be appreciated, rather than taken for granted.

“BAG. Says it right there. Under the picture. There’s other words, but right there it says to me: BAG.”

The word “bag” is significant because it is the first word that Sarny learned to spell, and both Mammy and Nightjohn were punished when Waller noticed her writing it in the dirt. It is also the first word that Sarny reads in print, having recognized it in Nightjohn’s catalog for his school. Sarny’s immediate reaction—crying—shows how meaningful literacy is to her. This emotion emphasizes the privilege and power of education.