The Black Community In Roll Of Thunder — страница 3

in chapter four tells the story of how they own the land. This is also an important feature of the black community because it shows that the older members of the family pass stories down to the younger members by word of mouth. Big Ma tells the particular story about how they have their land proudly, because it was very uncommon for black people to own their own land and for a white person to sell them the land in the first place. More evidence that the Logans are strong, in the sense that they stick together, is that even though the children?s father has been away so long, he still comes home to a warm reception from the whole family. The black community on a whole is very strong; everybody looks out for each other. Evidence of this is when Joe Avery calls on the Logans to warn

them that ?They?re ridin? tonight? referring to a gang of racists that went out at night and killed unsuspecting black people that had been stirring up trouble, just like the Logans. This is how Mr Morrison?s family was killed when he was a child. Further evidence to support the strength of the community is when Mrs Logan goes to the Berry?s house with food because of Mr Berry being burnt by racists. Even when they are short of money, the Logans manage to spare some food for those less fortunate than themselves. One major event of the book comes at the end when TJ is about to be beaten to death. Papa comes up with a way to save TJ without physical conflict. He sets fire to his own cotton, so to turn the men?s attention from TJ to putting the fire out. Considering how financially

unstable the Logans were, I think this shows immense community spirit. Growing up in a family that owns its own land, Cassie was a bit na?ve regarding racism. This was no fault of her own; her family had understandably protected their children from racism. However, when Cassie began to taste the real world, it was extremely frightening. An event in the book that illustrates this is the trip to Strawberry in chapter five. When Big Ma is away, the children go into the mercantile and ask for what they need. Midway through serving them, the storeowner begins to serve a white lady. At first Cassie finds this understandable because the woman is an adult, but as time goes by, they realise that he is serving a young white girl no older than Cassie. This confuses Cassie and she shouts at

the storeowner, attracting much attention from other shoppers. This turns Cassie?s entire world upside down, no longer was she in a cosy world, where everybody was equal, and she experienced the harsh world for the first time. In response to this event, Cassie?s mother decided to explain what the world was like. I think this must have been devastating and confusing for Cassie. She says at the end of the day, ?No day in all my life had ever been as cruel as this one?. The black people deal with racism by ignoring it, which I think, is outstanding considering all the cruelty that they were subjected to. No direct physical retaliation came from the black people because in the nineteen-thirties, police were invariably racist, so the black people did not have the law on their side. If

any conflict had resulted in the death of a white person, a black person could expect to be put on the chain gang or even hung. Another factor, which is significant about the book, is that not all the white people are racist and not all the black people are innocent and wrongfully accused of things. Jeremy Simms is a white boy, who has been friends with the white children for as long as they could remember. He had continually met the black children at the crossroads in the morning, and met them there at night. Jeremy is an outcast in the white community, due to his friendship with the Logans. He is bullied by his family and his fellow pupils, yet still makes an effort to meet them, even though the feeling is not entirely mutual. Another significant example is TJ Avery, a black

child who from the beginning of the book, seems to crave attention and control over conversations. I think Taylor put this contrast of personalities in the book because she wanted to show that everybody is different. I think that it is a shame that realistically, the strong bond in the black community probably came about through racism. They had no one but each other to look out for them and so they had to be close to survive. I don?t think they should have been abused and bullied for being black, I think a lot could have been learnt from them. Mildred Taylor was an African American author, who grew up in Southern USA she was born after the time in which her book was supposed to be set. Just like Cassie, she grew up with stories being passed down from her grandparents of her