Nightjohn told Mammy his story after she asked him about the whip scars on his back. He narrated how he once successfully managed to escape from slavery and lived as a free man. … Shortly after his gruesome punishment, Nightjohn escaped from Mr. Waller’s place, but he returned to continue his clandestine classes.

How does Nightjohn escape the dogs?

In the novel Nightjohn, Sarny talks about a girl called Alice trying to escape after she’d been beaten. Sarny says she had reached the river when Waller set his dogs on her. They ripped off the front part of her body, but she didn’t die. … Waller pulled the dogs back before they had killed Pawley and then castrated him.

How does Sarny find out Nightjohn is coming?

Sarny first sees Nightjohn when he is brought to the plantation with a rope around his neck, his body covered with scars from many beatings. Sarny is drawn to Nightjohn when she learns that he had escaped North to freedom, only to voluntarily return to the South.