Roll Of Thunder: Hear My Cry

Roll Of Thunder: Hear My Cry Book Report

1. The setting for the short novel, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, is in the state of Mississippi, in the early 1930’s, which means that it is right during the middle of the Great Depression. I believe the setting is very important to the book because in Mississippi during those times there was a lot of racism and racial segregation, the African Americans people could not do the same things that Caucasian, white people could do. Also the setting is important because if they author had put the book set in a place like New York City the racism would not be the same as if she set the book in a place like Mississippi or really anywhere in the South. In addition the setting is important because if it had been set in the
modern times there is not as much racism, and it is not as bad as it was back in the 1930’s and the place where the book takes place makes sense because they talk a different way in the South than in the West, in the South they don’t finish some words and use slang like ain’t. More over the setting is a key component to the story line is that the African American people in the South are not treated as well in the 1930’s then the 60’s or even the modern times, compared to a white person, for example the cops would trust a white man over a black man about a crime.
2. Now I will write a paragraph comparing, but also contrasting the white population in the 1930’s and also the black population of that time. First, to compare they both live in the South and both people farm for a living, plus have a large family to tend to the farm once the father leaves for work then the other kids. In addition both populations live in the rural areas of Mississippi, neither really live in the city. Additionally both groups have large amounts of land, even though the white families may have more they both still have a lot. Now to contrast, a few things that are different about white people than black people are that white men can vote, while black men can’t. Furthermore the police are more likely to listen to a white person telling them about a crime than a black person just because the police don’t trust the black people. Also white people can order from the counter of restaurants while black people have to order from the back, the kitchen, or even sometimes some restaurants wont even serve them at all. As well white men do not even have to obey the law sometimes, like when the Berry’s were burned by the white men the police knew that happened, but those white men didn’t even get in trouble.
3. In this book Cassie loses her innocence in the sense that she learns about racism and that she was naïve to it before. Even though she may have known it was going on before she didn’t really know what it was. Or when someone was talking about racism she didn’t know what that meant. In addition in the beginning she didn’t understand what the inside book cover of the book they got at school was saying, but throughout the entire novel Cassie figures out that that was racism and they gave the black people the old, decrepit, worn, used books that the white people had used and now that they were of no use to the white kids, they donated them to the little black kids. Another thing that Cassie learned that she should always listen to her mother, because when she doesn’t, that is when she starts to get into trouble. For example when Stacey goes to the Jamison store, even when his dad and his mom told him not to, he got in trouble because his mom eventually found out. The ways Cassie changes throughout the whole book are that, at first she starts out was a quiet, naïve little girl, but by the end of the novel she becomes more of an out-spoken woman. Another way Cassie Logan changes is that in the beginning she didn’t like her school and the people, but then by the end of the book she kind of starts to like them.
4.
First of all the thing that T.J. did was that he robbed a store in Strawberry, even though he did not know he was going to rob the store, her thought that Melvin and R. W. were going to buy him the pearl handled pistol he had been wanting. More over the punishment I think he deserves are not as severe as the ones that the lynching mob gave him. Rather I think that he should still get in trouble, but I don’t think he should be killed or lynched, because that is too severe, maybe he should be grounded as in go to school work on the farm, then go home and not leave. I don’t think that the police should do anything because he did not plan to rob that store; he was just going in to the store thinking that he was going to get a gun. More over I think that the Simms boys should be punished more than T.J. because they are really the one’s who robbed that store and not really T.J. Even though I don’t think that that will happen because they are white kids, I still believe that should happen because that is fair and just, even though the world is not always fair. What's more another thing that T.J. was that he told the Logan family that they were going to be attacked by the lynching squad, so at least he warned
them.