Roll of Thunder
Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry is a very powerful book, profoundly showing what life was like during the segregation system and how black people had to tolerate being seen as insignificant beings. The segregation system took place in the 1900’s and it was where the blacks and whites lived differently to one another. White people thought themselves superior as opposed to the black people and lived slightly better lives. Throughout the book, the author thoroughly describes what life was like from a black girl’s point of view, leading us through the disasters and hard times her family has been through in relation to the whites.
Colored people don’t have their own bus to get to school, therefore they have to walk the journey. As they walk to school, Cassie, her brothers and TJ encounter the Jefferson Davis bus which provides seating for white children. They come across the bus again in chapter 3. ‘…spewing clouds of red dust like a huge yellow dragon breathing fire.’
The author uses a simile to compare the bus to a ‘huge yellow dragon’ to make it sound big and ominous. She emphasizes it using adjectives like huge and yellow to show that the bus isn’t something that the Logans can just ignore and that they feel small and worthless compared to it, mostly because it carries white people. The Logan children are quite tough and stubborn, but the author makes it sound as if they lose their self confidence when they stumble upon the bus, being the ‘huge yellow dragon’ that she described it as. She also describes the clouds of dust from the road as the dragon ‘breathing fire’ as fire is a scary thing that burns things which can be seen as burning the Logan children’s esteem.
White people are shown as more fortunate when it comes to a healthy education and presentation of the school building, showing that they are proud of their school. As Cassie walks to school she notices the flags outside the white children’s school.
‘…with the emblem of the Confederacy emblazoned in its
Colored people don’t have their own bus to get to school, therefore they have to walk the journey. As they walk to school, Cassie, her brothers and TJ encounter the Jefferson Davis bus which provides seating for white children. They come across the bus again in chapter 3. ‘…spewing clouds of red dust like a huge yellow dragon breathing fire.’
The author uses a simile to compare the bus to a ‘huge yellow dragon’ to make it sound big and ominous. She emphasizes it using adjectives like huge and yellow to show that the bus isn’t something that the Logans can just ignore and that they feel small and worthless compared to it, mostly because it carries white people. The Logan children are quite tough and stubborn, but the author makes it sound as if they lose their self confidence when they stumble upon the bus, being the ‘huge yellow dragon’ that she described it as. She also describes the clouds of dust from the road as the dragon ‘breathing fire’ as fire is a scary thing that burns things which can be seen as burning the Logan children’s esteem.
White people are shown as more fortunate when it comes to a healthy education and presentation of the school building, showing that they are proud of their school. As Cassie walks to school she notices the flags outside the white children’s school.
‘…with the emblem of the Confederacy emblazoned in its