Main Theme Of Nightjohn By Gary Paulsen

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Being in situations can make you stronger or weaker. Different situations make you stronger and other situations make you weaker and that’s just how life goes. Through these situations, we learn life lesson and other things we need to get through life. What have you learned from the different situations you’ve been in? If you haven’t learned anything than what can you learn? Nightjohn was written by Gary Paulsen and it was a story about slaves and learning to read. Nightjohn went through situations and he became a better person for it. Three themes stood out to me and they were, getting along with others, freedom, and leadership.

First, the main theme I pulled from this book was getting along with others. Getting along with others is such
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Leadership isn't something you can learn. It’s something that you are born with. Nightjohn was a great leader of the slaves and it is easily shown throughout the book. Nightjohn was mainly a leader because he helped them in different ways like teaching them to read and write, or protecting them from harm. To be an effective leader, like Nightjohn, you have to have a caring for the group and you have to figure out ways to help them when they are hurt. There are other people besides Nightjohn that were leaders in the story. Take Deile for example; Deile watched the young because their mothers were sent away early in their life. So, Deile showed leadership by stepping up to take the role as Mammy. In my life, my parents show great leadership. They know what is best for me even when I do not think they do, and they care for me so I can make it on my own someday. They take the responsibility of caring for me so that I can do the same with my own children.

As you can see, these are very powerful themes that many people need to learn. The world if filled with darkness that can only be broken by the light. There are so many lessons that show us the light because it is up to us to break the darkness. Furthermore, you can start with three life lessons: getting along with others, the value of freedom, and the key to leadership. Just starting with these three simple things can help you on the way to success. Now, have you figured out how you can change the world like Nightjohn

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