The name of my book is titled ‘Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.’ The author is Mildred D. Taylor, and the main character is Cassie Logan.
In the story, the main problem is that a boy named T.J. Avery was always a pest and a bother. He stole Stacey’s coat and fired their mother’s job as a teacher. H was spoiled, and the Logans disliked him very much.
The solution was that one night; T.J. broke into a store with his “friends” R.W. and Melvin to get an expensive pearl-handled pistol. But then R.W. and Melvin ran away to tell the police, and the Avery family was arrested. But in T.J.’s absence, Cassie realized maybe T.J. wasn’t so bad after all. If he was there, they would have been friends.
A minor problem was that when Cassie and Little Man went to school, the front cover of the books showed a piece of information stating that the “nigras” treated the books “very poorly.” When they pointed it out to their teacher, Miss Crocker, they were whipped.
The solution was that when Miss Logan was presented the neglected books, instead of scolding Little Man and Cassie, pasted paper over all of the front covers of the books so they wouldn’t feel insulted.
I think Cassie Logan’s strongest trait is that she is attentive.
Evidence 1: This moon shows that Cassie was an attentive person. The author used action to show this trait.
“After Mr. Morrison had retired to his own house and Big Ma, the boys, and I had gone to bed, Papa and Mama remained on the porch, talking in hushed whispers. It was comforting listening to them, Mama’s voice a warm, lilting murmur, Papa’s a quiet, easy-flowing hum. After a few minutes they left the porch and their voices grew faint. I climbed from the bed, careful not to awaken Big Ma, and went to the window. They were walking slowly across the moon-soaked grass, their arms around each other.”
This evidence from the book shows that the main character, Cassie, was an attentive person. She was supposed to be in bed, but when she heard her parents talking outside, stayed up to listen, although her parents probably wouldn’t have wanted her to listen, which made her very attentive. The moon had come out that night, so that’s why I chose this moon for my item.
Evidence 2: These beans also prove that Cassie is attentive. Once again, the author used action to show this trait.
“As the three of them washed up on the back porch, Mama went to the end of the porch where Papa stood alone.
“What did Mr. Jamison want?” she asked, her voice barely audible. Papa took the towel but did not answer immediately. I was just outside dipping out the butter beans. I moved closer to the window so that I could hear his answer.”
This second piece of evidence also shows that Cassie was attentive. While preparing dinner, she heard her parents talking about important matters through an open window. Usually someone would just ignore other discussions, but for Cassie, it didn’t just slip by, which made her very attentive. She had been dipping out butter beans at the minute, so that’s why I brought some beans for my item.
Evidence 3: This quilt is something else that shows Cassie is attentive. The author used action to show this.
“A few moments later Big Ma came in, leaving the door to Mama’s room open. Knowing she would be suspicious of such an early surrender to sleep, I sighed softly and, making sleepy little sounds, turned onto my stomach, careful not to expose my shirtsleeves. Obviously satisfied by my performance, Big Ma tucked the covers more closely around me and smoothed my hair gently. Then she stooped and started fishing for something under our bed.”
Cassie pretended to be sleeping so her grandmother wouldn’t go away and find out what she was doing. That made her an attentive person, since she was trying to find out what her parents were doing that they didn’t want her to know. She had been “sleeping” while this happened, so I brought a quilt for my item.
Evidence 4: This flashlight shows that Cassie was attentive. The author used action again to show the trait.
“I started to climb back up the porch but froze as a caravan of headlights appeared suddenly in the east, coming fast along the rain-soaked road like cat eyes in the night. Jason whined loudly, growing skittish as the lights approached, and when they slowed and braked before the house he slunk beneath the porch. I wanted to follow, but I couldn’t. My legs wouldn’t move.
The lead car swung into the muddy driveway and a shadowy figure outlined by the headlights of the car behind him stepped out. The man walked slowly up the drive.”
This was the thing that Cassie’s parents had tried to keep her from seeing, but Cassie still went to look when she heard her dog whining, because it meant there was something wrong. This made her very attentive. The flashlight looks like the headlights, so that’s why I chose a flashlight for my item.
A second strong trait in Cassie is that she is very bold.
Evidence 1: This shopping list shows that Cassie was bold. The author used dialogue to show this trait.
“The girl gazed at me strangely, but Mr. Barnett did not look up. I assumed that he had not heard me. I was near the end of the counter so I merely went to the other side of it and tugged on his shirtsleeve to get his attention.
He recoiled as if I had struck him.
“Y-you was helping us,” I said, backing to the front of the counter again.
“Well, you just get your little black self back over there and wait some more,” he said in a low, tight, voice.
I was hot. I had been as nice as I could to him and here he was talking like this. “We been waiting on you for nearly an hour,” I hissed, “while you go ‘round waiting on everybody else. And it ain’t fair. You got no right-“
“Whose little nigger is this!” bellowed Mr. Barnett.
This evidence from the book shows that Cassie is a bold person. When the owner of the store, Mr. Barnett, waits on everyone else in line although it is T.J.’s turn, she tried to remind him that he had been helping them, though she fails and was driven out by a furious Mr. Barnett. But it still was very bold of her to speak up like that to a grown white man while she was only a young 9-year old black in the early 1900’s. She was shopping with T.J. and Stacey at the time, so I chose a shopping list for my item.
Evidence 2: These shoes prove that the main character, Cassie, was bold. The author used dialogue to show this trait.
“I did not feel like messing with Lillian Jean. I had other things on my mind. “Okay,” I said, starting past. “I’m sorry.”
Lillian Jean sidestepped in front of me. “That ain’t enough. Get down in the road.”
I looked up at her. “You crazy?”
“You can’t watch where you going, get down in the road. Maybe that way you won’t be bumping into decent white folks with your nasty self.”
This second insult of the day was almost more than I could bear. Only the thought of Big Ma up in Mr. Jamison’s office saved Lillian Jean’s lip. “I ain’t nasty,” I said, properly holding my temper in check, “and if you’re afraid of getting bumped, get down there yourself.”
This piece of evidence from the book shows that Cassie is bold. Instead of just surrendering and stepping down onto the road, Cassie stayed, believing she shouldn’t let herself be bossed around, although it was obvious this would infuriate Lillian Jean. This made Cassie a bold person. She had been walking down the street, so I chose a pair of shoes for my item.
Evidence 3: This speech bubble shows that Cassie is bold. The author used dialogue to show this trait.
“Not ‘fore she ‘pologizes to my gal, y’all ain’t,” said Mr. Simms.
Big Ma gazed down at me, fear in her eyes, then back at the growing crowd. “She just’ a child-“
“Tell her, Aunty-“
Big Ma looked at me, her voice cracking as she spoke. “Go on child…apologize.”
“But, Big Ma-“
Her voice hardened. “Do like I say.”
I swallowed hard.
“Go on!”
“I’m sorry,” I mumbled.
“I’m sorry, Miz Lillian Jean,” demanded Mr. Simms.
“Big Ma!” I balked.
“Say it, child.”
A painful tear slid down my cheek and my lips trembled. “I’m sorry…M-Miz …Lillian Jean.”
The evidence from the book proves that Cassie is bold. She didn’t believe in apologizing twice including a “Miss” just for accidentally bumping into Lillian Jean. That was very bold of her to do, although it mingled with a little bit of disobedience. She was basically saying “No, I don’t want to!”, so I chose a speech bubble for my item.
Evidence 4: This jar of water shows that Cassie is bold. The author used action to show this trait.
“When Stacey’s and my holes merged into one big hole with Little Man’s and Christopher-John’s, Stacey and I threw down our shovels and grabbed the extra buckets. Then the four of us ran back and forth to the gullies, hastily filling the buckets with murky water and dumping it into the hole.
Now understanding Stacey’s plan, we worked wordlessly until the water lay at the same level as the road. Then Stacey waded into the gully water and pulled himself up onto the forest bank. Finding three rocks, he stacked them to identify the spot.”
The evidence from ‘Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry’ shows that Cassie is bold. A bus passes by everyday as the Logans went to school and the bus driver would amuse his passengers by splattering them with mud, so they decided to get back. They dug a large hole and disguised it as a large puddle, so the bus would fall in. Cassie was willing to risk being found out and getting into big trouble just for getting revenge. Because they made the hole into an innocent puddle, that’s why I brought a jar of water for my item.
I liked ‘Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry’ because it gives a lot of information about how blacks were treated soon after slavery ended. It also is a loving story and proves the power of family and friends.
