The book Nightjohn is about a group of slaves owned by Clel Waller, who are abused in a way that can surprisingly almost be seen as mello compared to the treatment that slaves in other locations received. Being whipped, beaten, and having small body parts cut off were not unusual events. Nightjohn, a slave recently purchased by Waller, teaches Sarny, a 12-year-old slave who doesn’t know anything but her life on Waller’s property, how to read, letter by letter. This was illegal at the time, and Nightjohn, who had escaped many times, but kept coming back to teach others to read, continues to do it anyway because of his beliefs. The book carries many themes, but three of them stuck out to me than the others; freedom, bravery, and getting along with one another. …show more content…
Some of them were reading, because it equated to knowledge. Being able to read newspapers meant that they knew what was going on in other places of the country, and writing allowed them to communicate in different formats, and compose their own passes to freedom. Nightjohn gives up his own personal freedom in order for others to have it, which was why he was so cheap for Waller to buy in the first place. People like Nightjohn are why slave owners despise the slaves reading so much; slave holders wanted to keep slaves hidden from even the slightest taste of liberation that Sarny proves is easy to get to, when you use your resources