ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY

ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY
By Mildred D. Taylor
288 pages
Puffin (April 12, 2004)
ISBN-10: 0142401129
Genre: Literary Fiction (also, Historical Fiction)
Newbery Medal Winner

This is a book that I am glad that I read as an adult. I would have missed so much as a young reader. For those who read it in their youth; well, hopefully, they find it again as adults.

This is the story of the Logan family in Mississippi. They are landowners and this is extremely important. The older generation will fight for the land. This is the story of four black children; Stacey, Christopher John, Little Man and Cassie, growing up in the South in the 1930s.

This is the story of claiming an identity that others would deny you. Cassie is described as “high-strung” (28). Some felt that the Logan children had an unrealistic view of their circumstances. This is demonstrated by Daisy, the schoolteacher, who informed Mary Logan of Little Man’s dissatisfaction with the used books provided by the state: “Well, I think you you’re just spoiling those children, Mary. They’ve got to learn how things are sometime” (30). The state had given the students old books from the white schools and the Logan children, Cassie came to the aid of her brother after figuring out his troubles, did not want to accept them. Their mother decided to add brown paper to the inside covers that offended her children. “She understood” (31).

There was another incident involving Cassie. Her grandmother, Big Ma made her apologize to Lillian Jean, a thirteen-year-old who accused her of “bumping into decent white folks” (114). Cassie is a nine and did apologize but that was not enough. Pretty soon there was a scene involving Lillian Jean’s father, Cassie’s grandmother and other spectators. Big Ma made Cassie apologize… “Big Ma gazed down at me, fear in her eyes, then back at the growing crowd…Big Ma gazed down at me again, her voice cracking as she spoke. ‘Go on, child….apologize’” (115). This infuriates Cassie. Her brother tries to explain to her that Big Ma had to do it but Cassie is not hearing this argument. He further explains that “there’s things you don’t understand” (118).

It is difficult to explain these types of things to children. There are still things that are and will be no matter how we try to shape it. Cassie did obtain some gratification (no, I am not condoning conflict) over “Miz Lillian Jean.” Cassie made her apologize for all the names that she had called her and for other things: “And she apologized. For herself and her father. For her bothers and her mother. For Strawberry and Mississippi…” (181).

In this story, I reflected on the black experience and what it means to be black in America. In this reflection, I found beauty in the story of courageous people and I found generational concern…they would not lose the land and the children would have something to call their own. In this story, I found a commitment within myself to keep moving forward; too many have stood so that this generation could have what they never dreamt.

In this story, I found the importance of family no matter race. I found strength in a family that stood together. Family is so important and it is nice to read about a loving family.

I selected this as literary fiction because it is a complex story about race relations and life in the South during reconstruction. The author’s note explains that she “learned history not then written in history books but passed from generation to generation on the steps of moonlit porches and beside dying fires in one-room houses, a history of great-grandparents and of slavery and of the days following slavery: of those who lived still not free, yet who would not let their spirits be enslaved.” Thank goodness, Taylor has shared these stories.

It is provocative and has an ambiguous ending (Will the family retain the land that they have fought so hard to keep?). The characters are crucial; you feel for the family and hope for their survival. You want the children to have a good life. It is serious and dark. Yet, within this darkness is light and hope.

I would recommend this book to people individuals who enjoy significant stories and those that appreciate literary and historical fiction.