NightJohn - November 11

Prompt: Word Choice
Pages read: Finished

     NightJohn's use of word choice is used in the development of dialect for characters. For example when Sarny, the narrator, speaks, she says things like "when I birthed" instead of saying "when I was born." Gary Pulsen uses dialect in his piece not only to show that Sarny is uneducated but to also give the reader a glimpse of the time that she is living in since she speaks informally.
     I think that the whole story; plot, meaning, and theme is told through dialect so it was pretty hard to find actually text that wasn't dialogue that helped but I actually found a few. For example, when the owner od the plantation caught Sarny spelling BAG in the dirt; he kicked her and she wrote that her "mind rolled around like a sick dog." Not only did this provide imagery but it created more negative connotation. We all know what it's like to get into trouble but by providing this line in the book it creates a mood where you feel like darkness is just surrounding you and the book. Also, in the begging of almost every chapter it starts with either "wrong again." or "come a hard time" or something along those lines and I think that Gary added those lines in the book because not only did it show that slave life was so unpredictable but it kept on creating these grotesque connotations.
     This novel is a very touchy book with subjects that can get disturbing so I think that the author had to ponder about word choice for a very long time. There is one specific chapter int he book that focuses on punishments that slaves had to endure when they were caught misbehaving. In my opinion, I believe that Gary took "the road less traveled" when he wrote this book because out of all of the historical fiction books I have read I don't think any have depicted punishments that go own as normal. In this book when Sarny is talking about how a girl named Alice, got whipped, Sarny said, "Next morning they took her down and they was some maggot eggs but not so bad." This line was so astonishing because she said "not so bad" and when I think maggot eggs, even one, I can't help but cringe and her saying that she's seen worse creates the most horrific mood.