1 Sarny, a 12 year old slave, faces a hopeless life. Her chief duties at the plantation of Clel Waller are serving at table, spitting tobacco juice on roses to prevent bugs, and secretly conveying intimate messages between Waller's wife Callie, and Dr. Chamberlaine. Then Nightjohn arrives. A former runaway slave who has scars on his back, he takes Sarny under his wing and, in exchange for tobacco, secretly begins to teach her to read and write, a crime punishable by death. He starts by drawing letters in the dirt and tells her that no one must know. At her baptism, Sarny steals a Bible that belongs to Waller's son Jeffrey, and practices reading by lantern in the slave housing. The Bible serves another purpose when Nightjohn forges a pass for Outlaw to use in escaping to freedom in the North with his beloved Egypt. Waller finds the Bible and demands to know who stole it. Delie,the onw who cared for Sarny, fears for her and takes the blame. But Nightjohn takes the lashing Delie is to receive, saying he's the one because he can read. He tries to run away but is caught, and his hand is tied to a chopping block. With an ax, Waller takes off it off, exacting the brutal penalty for Nightjohn's literacy. As he is dragged off to be sold, he tells Sarny, "When they cut off one hand, the other hand grows stronger." That night Sarny writes a pass for Egypt that will let her join Outlaw on the flight to freedom. Two days later their escape is discovered and the fake passes are found. Waller knows Nightjohn wrote Outlaw's pass, but not the second pass. He interrupts a church service to demand the answer, threatening to kill all his slaves if no one tells. Sarny confesses, but says he'll kill no one. As Waller raises his rifle, Sarny ask Callie to speak up for her, hinting that she has read the messages to Dr. Chamberlaine. Callie refuses, but the doctor, fearful Sarny will reveal the relationship, says he's at fault. He tells of teaching Egypt some reading and writing, but now declares it was a mistake. Callie orders that Sarny be sold, and as she is joined to a line of other slaves, she asks if any of them have tobacco to trade. What has she to give in return? they want to know. And Sarny draws an A in the dirt.
2 In 1937 Malcolm moves in with the Swerlins, a white foster family. He accepts their generosity, but feels more like a “mascot” or a pet than a human being equal to those around him. Malcolm is first in his class at Mason Junior High, but he does not feel comfortable at school. Though he is proud when the students elect him class president, he feels like a “pink poodle” more of an oddity than a human being. In history class Malcolm finds only one paragraph on black history in the textbook. The teacher laughs as he tells Malcolm’s class that though the slaves have been freed, black people are still lazy and dumb. Malcolm tells his English teacher, Mr. Ostrowski, that he wants to become a lawyer. Though Mr. Ostrowski supports the professional aspirations of white students who are less intelligent than Malcolm, he tells Malcolm to become a carpenter. Malcolm comes to resent his white school and home, and realizes that even well meaning white people do not see black people as their equals. Malcolm grows up quickly, and racial barriers frustrate him. He gets a job washing dishes, and he sometimes visits his mother at the mental hospital. He also visits his brothers and sisters, who live in different cities. On weekends, he dances to swing music at bars, where he sees interracial romances that cannot happen openly in Lansing. White boys pressure Malcolm to ask out white girls, but he realizes they just want a dirty secret to hold over the girls heads. Malcolm spends the summer of 1940 in Boston, visiting his half sister, Ella. Frustrated by how he has been treated at school and at home, Malcolm decides to move to Boston. The Swerlins do not understand why Malcolm wants to leave, and Malcolm is not able to explain his motivation to them. He moves into an upstairs room in Ella’s house in Roxbury. He is glad to move away, later seeing that if he had stayed in Lansing, he would have gotten a menial job or become a complacent middle class lawyer. Though only fifteen, he can pass for several years older, and he begins to look for a job..
3 The Great Debaters, NightJohn, and Mascot had similarities they share. The chapter Mascot had Malcom X want to become a lawyor when he grew up, and in the Great Debaters Samantha Booke did grow up to become one. Malcom X had no support from anyone, so he gave up on his dream, but Samantha Booke received much from her teammates and town. The settings in Nightjohn and The Great Debaters were both down in the south. In Nightjohn, Pawley would go see his girlfriend at night and in The Great Debaters Henry Lowe went out to see a girl one night and got in trouble when he came back. all of the stories had the main characters were all trying to reach a certain goal of their own. All of the stories had the violations of human rights. The Great Debaters and Mascot took place at around the same time, while Nightjohn took place during slavery. That’s how all three stories tied into eachother.
