NIGHTJOHN STUDY GUIDE QUESTIONS
INSTRUCTIONS:
DO NOT write on this study guide. Answer
all the questions on your own sheets of paper. Make sure you
answer all parts of each question.
CHAPTER ONE
Discussion questions
1. Sarny’s our narrator. What point of view is it in? How can you tell?
2. What do we know about Sarny?
3. Why do people think Sarny’s dumb? What do you think? (14, 15, 18)
4. Who’s Clel Waller? What does Sarny think of him? How can you tell? (p 14
and 15) Where’s the simile about him on page 16? What does it mean?
5. How old was Sarny when she lost her mom? Does she seem to remember
much about her? How do you know? What type of conflict would that
have been for her mom? (15, 16, 18)
6. Who’s Delie? (16)
7. What do children do? (17)
Writing Exercise
1. Pick 3 adjectives to describe Sarny from what we’ve read so far. Go back
through the first chapter and find a sentence to quote and prove each one.
Write your answers in complete sentences. ( For example: I think Ed is
mean, because on page 36 the author says, “Ed pushed Steve to the
ground.” This shows that Ed picks on other people, which proves he’s
mean.)
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NIGHTJOHN STUDY GUIDE QUESTIONS
CHAPTER 2
Discussion questions
1. Why did Sarny have to chew on tobacco leaves? (p 20)
2. What sort of relationship does the missus have with slaves? (p 21)
3. Delie told Sarny to hide the money she found, “Somebody see that and
they’ll come along and take it from you.” Infer what might have made
Delie say that.
4. Why do you think Waller would not let them pray?
5. What’s the simile on page 23?
6. What can you predict about Night John if he cost Waller $1,000 to buy?
CHAPTER 3
Discussion questions
1. Waller doesn’t have an overseer. Why does Sarny think this is? (26) But
he does have drivers. What do they have? (30)
2. Describe how Nightjohn was brought in. Why would Waller have brought
him in that way? (25-28)
3. What marks are on Nightjohn’s body? What does that mean? (27)
4. Page 32 onomatopoeia – where is it?
5. What does Nightjohn want? Why doesn’t Sarny tell him at first that she
has some? (33)
6. What had mammy/Delie warned Sarny about when she caught her
writing “100 lbs” in the past? (36)
7. What can Nightjohn offer? (36)
8. What does he teach her? (38)
9. Why does he say they don’t let slaves read? (39)
10.
What’s an external conflict from this section? Internal conflict?
11.
What’s an example of cause and effect in this section?
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Writing Exercise
Write this on your own sheet of paper. Add it onto your paper that has the
Sarny adjective writing activity from Chapter 1. Turn this paper in when you
finish.
1. Is learning how to read worth the risk? Would you take the risk? Why or
why not?
2. Summarize a typical day in the life of a field working slave. (29-31)
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Name: ___________________________________________________________
Period: ____________
NIGHTJOHN STUDY GUIDE QUESTIONS
CHAPTER 4
Read Chapter 4 of Nightjohn on your own silently today (pages 42-58). Write the answers
to the questions below AND on the back side. Write in COMPLETE SENTENCES. Make sure
to answer ALL of the parts of the questions – most have more than one part. You will turn
this paper and the book in before leaving class today.
1. Summarize what happened to Alice. (Should be at least 5 sentences – a lot happened to her)
2. Why would a slave owner want to make other slaves watch a slave get punished?
3. Summarize what happened to Jim. (47-48)
4. Summarize what happened to Pawley. (49)
5. Why is Delie (mammy) upset when she finds Nightjohn teaching Sarny? (53-54)
More on the back side
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6. John ran away once successfully. Why did he return? He hadn’t planned on getting caught, what
was his plan? (54-57)
7. Why does John say that they have to learn to read and write? What are your thoughts/opinions on
this? (58)
8. Would you have helped others like Harriet Tubman and Nightjohn if you had escaped to freedom?
Why or why not?
9. What predictions do you have for what will happen in the book? What led you to make those
predictions?
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NIGHTJOHN STUDY GUIDE QUESTIONS
CHAPTER 5
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. “Waller whips them past that and they get so tired they don’t know up
from down.” P 59 – what figure of speech is this?
2. What was Sarny’s first word? Why did Sarny make the word everywhere?
3. What’s her excuse to Waller when he saw her writing the word? What
does Waller do to her? Where does she run?
4. “Wouldn’t do no good.” P 67 What grammar mistake does this have? How
can we fix it? P 67-68 has another example of this: “John couldn’t do
nothing anyway.” How can I fix it?
5. “Didn’t go to the spring house. Didn’t have a whip.” P 69 These 2
sentences are fragments. How can we combine them and make them a
complete sentence instead of a fragment?
6. Why does he punish mammy? What does he do to her?
7. Why does John come forward? Should he have?
8. What’s the punishment for reading and writing? What does Waller do to
Nightjohn?
9. How would this chapter be different if it was from Delie (mammy’s point
of view?
10. How would this chapter change if it was from John’s point of view?
11. How would the whole novel change if it was from Waller’s point of view?
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WRITING EXERCISE
1. Rewrite an event from Chapter 5 (at least 6 creative and strong
sentences) from Delie’s, John’s, or Waller’s point of view.
CHAPTER 6
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. How long was John down for?
2. What does John do the second night? Does this surprise you? What does
this tell you about him? Is that a good decision?
3. What did John say would happen in 2 more nights?
4. Mammy says he was “always going” and that he was “born to leave.” What
does she mean by this? Do you agree or disagree? Why?
5. What can you infer about John and Delie’s relationship?
6. He tells he’ll be back? Do you believe him?
CHAPTER 7
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What happened to Nightjohn after he left?
2. Where did John take Sarny?
3. Who else was there?
4. What book did John have?
5. Why did Sarny cry?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. This part seems poetic. What makes me say that?
2. Why’d the author include this part?
3. What predictions do you have for the future of Sarny and Nightjohn?
Writing Exercise:
1. What’s the tone and mood at the beginning of the book? Give support.
2. What is it at the end of the book? Give support.
3. What was the author’s purpose behind this book? What did they want to
accomplish? Give support.
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