Nightjohn

1. Nightjohn By Gary Paulsen

2. characters • Sarny-a 12 year-old slave girl/she is the narrator of the story • Mammy-a woman who takes care of Sarny and the other young children • Nightjohn-another slave who ran away but came back • Clel Waller-the head of the Waller family who “owns” Sarny and the other slaves.

3. Setting • A plantation in the south in the 1800’s. • Sarny and the other slaves lives on the Waller plantation. • The Waller’s house-big, white and fancy • The slave quarters-not very nice

4. Chapters 1-3 • Sarny talks about her life, how the woman who gave birth to her was sold and how Mammy took care of her. • Sarny describes the work she does. • Clel Waller spent $1,000 on Nightjohn, a new male worker. • Sarny describes the life of the workers on the farm and how hard life is. • Nightjohn or John trades the teaching of reading for tobacco. • Sarny decides to accept the trade even though slaves are not allowed to learn to read and write.

5. Chapters 4-8 • John tells Mammy and Sarny that he ran away to the north but came back to teach people how to read. • Waller catches Sarny writing letters in the dirt and doesn’t believe her when she says that she was copying something she saw on a bag. • Mammy gets whipped for it instead of Sarny. • John tells Waller that he was teaching Sarny to read and Waller cuts off some of his toes. • John teaches Sarny three more letters and then leaves. • John comes back and tells Sarny to follow him. • John has started a small school to teach Sarny and others how to read.