Nightjohn Themes

536 Words2 Pages

Nightjohn is an inspiring story about a slave named John, who teaches other slaves, such as a twelve year old girl named Sarny, to read. From this story, you can learn many important themes, such as leadership, freedom, prejudice, bravery, and getting along with others. All of these themes are important in one’s life. In the following essay, you will learn about three of these themes: leadership, prejudice, and getting along with others. The first theme in Nightjohn is getting along with others. In the story, Clel Waller uses fear and intimidation to control his slaves. These methods, although somewhat effective, are not appropriate to use on anyone, no matter what they might have done. Had Waller used another, more tame strategy, such as rewarding good behavior rather than punishing poor behavior, then the slaves would not only obey him, but also view him as a better, nicer person altogether, and their relationship with Waller would be one of friendship and respect rather than one of fear. As a result, the slaves would tend to like him more, and reduce the chance of a violent revolt against mistreatment. Therefore, you should always try your best to be nice and get along with others. …show more content…

Nightjohn is considered a leader because of his efforts to help the slaves and teach them how to read. To be an effective leader, one must have the ambition to achieve a goal and the motivation and courage to work, and encourage others to work, on said goal. Waller may also be viewed as a leader. He had a goal: getting an extra large cotton harvest. He works to achieve this goal by pushing his slaves to work even harder, making the men in the white house work as well, and even bribing them with the promise of a party should they meet the cotton quota. Although Waller’s idea wasn’t great, and his strategy might not have been the best one to use, he would still be considered a leader because he had the necessary ambition and motivation to work for his

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