Nightjohn is a disturbing book because of its violence. Paulsen unflinchingly describes the harsh treatment that was routine on many plantations.

He reports the same brutalities that newspaper accounts, slave narratives, and antislavery novels (like Uncle Tom's Cabin) recounted in the mid1800s. His descriptions stress the harsh physical punishments inflicted. Nightjohn is "brought in bad" by Waller, naked, breathless from jogging behind a horse for miles, and lashed if he faltered. Jim and Pawley are attacked and killed by Waller's dogs for leaving the plantation. Alice is whipped for coming too near the master's house, and Mammy is hitched and harnessed to pull a wagon like a mule after Sarny's literacy is discovered. When Nightjohn confesses to teaching reading and writing, his middle toe on each foot is promptly amputated.

Certainly the book does not offer violence that adolescent readers will be encouraged to imitate...