In chapter 4 of NightJohn, Gary paulsen shows how grafic his writings can be. Alice, a field hand is put to be a breeder. She starts to wander and is caught by Old Waller by the White House where only gardeners can go. Although Alice is punished, she still tries to run away. Then, Sarney recalls a memory about Jim and Pawley. Jim couldn’t take the work any longer and ran. Old waller came after him and set his dogs to tear him up on the tree. Pawley was bitten by dogs and accidentally cut by Old Waller. Still, after all of this, Nightjohn still decides to teach Sarney a new letter—B. Old Delhi catches them two reading and she makes a shocking discovery about Nightjohn—he is an escaped slave from the North.
