‘”But that doesn’t mean they
have to accept them and
…And maybe we don’t either’”
Mamma shows that she understands and thinks from the children’s point of view. Cassie learns from her mother’s reaction that Mama covered the books because Mama is supporting the children’s beliefs. Mama would risk anything to protect her children and stand up for them. She doesn’t care what the consequences are. Her mum will fight against injustice for black people having second best.
We then hear that John Berry was at the station when two white men came up to him and in there car they followed him up to his house hitting the back of his car as he was driving. Then they pulled over and went and pulled him out of his house and they lit him and his house alight. He was burnt so much that he was immobilised. Then when Henrietta Higgins complained to the sheriff she is called
’”A liar’”
And told go sent home. Cassie learns from this that black people are not believed and so she learns that there is no justice for black people only for whites. The law protects white people so they can get away with literal murder.
Then as the story goes on the children are sick of dodging the bus and getting dirty. Stacey has an idea and so this is what they do. The children dig a gully in the middle of the road and they wait for the bus to come. As it rains the gully fills up with water and when the bus comes it gets stuck in the gully but because the axel breaks the white children have to walk home that day and have to walk to and fro school for the next two weeks. Cassie learns the sweetness of revenge but it doesn’t last for long. After this event the children are frightened because they hear that the nightriders are after someone and they think its them because of what they did to the bus. Cassie learns that getting revenge on white people is wrong as you can’t get revenge on white people because black people have no justice and no law to protect them and the consequences of ones actions will soon weigh up and they will pay for them.
Later T.J tells Cassie that Sam Tatum was tarred and feathered. He was punished like this because he went into the Barnett store and accused Mr Barnett of putting extra items on his bill that he didn’t buy. Mr Barnett accuses him of calling him a liar, and Sam Tatum replies
‘” Well maybe I am’”
Cassie did not believe that this was true, and she first laughed and did not take it seriously. She was relieved that the nightriders weren’t after them but she was also disgusted that white people treat black people in such a way.
Cassie is forbidden to go to he Wallace store because they corrupt black children. They encourage children to drink, smoke and dance in the store. The Wallace’s are capable of doing bad things because they are part of the nightriders. Cassie went to the Wallace store because T.J and Stacey were having a fight and she went in to see what was going on. Cassie was punished for going to the Wallace store by her mum taking her to the Berry’s house to be taught that she is not supposed to be around people like that because of what they are capable of. The Wallace’s and the Simmses were responsible for the burning of the Berrys because of what Mr Avery heard what they said. He says;
‘”Now I hear tell some of them
men that they done been round
Bragging’”
And
‘The Wallace’s laugh about it
saying ”we’d do it again if some
other uppity nigger gets out
of line’”
Mama confirms this. They see Mr Berry and he’s described as
‘The face had no nose, and the
head no hair; the skin was scarred,
burnt, and the lips were black, like charcoal’
Then Mama says quietly
‘The Wallace’s did that, children. They
poured kerosene over Mr Berry and his
nephew and lit them afire’
Cassie learns how bad the Wallace’s are and that they are capable of doing anything to black people and they will get away with it
When Cassie goes to Strawberry with her mum she learns that the best parts of the field market at the front go to white people and black people have to take their wagons to the back of the field to set their stalls up. When Cassie asks Big Ma why wagons are parked at the front and theirs is at the back Bi Ma replies
‘”Them white folks wagons
Cassie’”
Cassie learns that white folks get to park their wagons in the best parts of the market but she doesn’t understand why this is so.
When Stacey, Cassie and T.J go into the Barnett store Cassie gets into a mess when T.J, Cassie and Stacey are waiting to be served. A white woman comes up and tells Mr Barnett to serve her, and while Mr Barnett is serving T.J he stops and goes to serve the woman. Then when Cassie goes to see what is taking so long she spots Mr Barnett serving a “WHITE” little girl. Cassie is shocked but doesn’t know why he did that. Then she says to Mr Barnett
‘”You was helping us’”
While pulling on his shirt, he recoiled as if Cassie had struck him. She then says;
‘”You was waiting on us before
you was waiting on this little
girl here, and we’ve been
waiting a good while for
you to get back’”
Then Mr Barnett replies back to her by saying
‘”Well you just get your little
black self over there and wait
some more’”
Cassie complains about this and can’t believe what he said and carry’s on complaining so Mr Barnett shouts;
‘”Whose little nigger is this’”
Cassie is outraged and then Mr Barnett bellows at her;
‘”Make sure she don’t come
back till you mamma teach
her what she is’”
Mr Barnett shows his racism with his comments towards Cassie.
Cassie asks Stacey why he didn’t stick up for her but Stacey knows Mr Barnett is wrong and so he says
“I know its wrong, and you know
its wrong, but he doesn’t and
that’s where the trouble is”’
Mr Barnett believes that white people and black people don’t have any equal rights and so he doesn’t know that he is treating black people wrong. Cassie learns that Mr Barnett doesn’t understand how he treats blacks and he believes that there are no equal rights and so he doesn’t know that treating black people like this is wrong.
Then while Cassie is walking she bumps into Lillian Jean. Lillian Jean insults her and she makes Cassie go onto the sidewalk but Cassie won’t go. Mr Simms comes and he twists her arm and throws her onto the sidewalk. He then glances down at her and says;
‘”When my gal says for you to
get off the side walk you get, you
hear’”
Cassie is so enraged because she doesn’t understand why big Ma makes her apologise for something she didn’t do. She does not understand about racism yet and that if she hadn’t done that they would have been in trouble. Later she learns why Big Ma had to do that, because she was forced to.
After all this, it is time for Christmas and on Christmas day Jeremy Simms comes to give Stacey a flute that he made for him, and he gives the family some nuts. He wishes the family a merry Christmas. Papa is not happy about Jeremy Simm’s visit because Jeremy’s father does not know he is at their house. Papa knows white friends are dangerous and they can’t trust white ‘friends’. He could be a danger to Stacey or the family. He is a good friend of Stacey’s, even better than T.J but Jeremy is white and he could be trouble if he turns his back on Stacey when he gets older. Papa gives Stacey some wise words. He says;
‘”But in a few years he’ll thing
of himself as a man and you’ll
just be a boy to him and he’ll
turn his back on you in a minute’”
Stacey says that he doesn’t think it will happen with Jeremy so he’ll wait and see. Papa then says;
‘”The trouble is here in
Mississippi it costs to much
To find out’”
Papa means that when Jeremy is older he will look down on Stacey, not as a friend but as another black person whom he will have no respect for. Stacey could continue his relationship but it costs too much to find out, as it could put their family’s life in danger. Cassie overhears this conversation, and this would have an affect on Cassie because she thinks of Jeremy as a good friend and not someone who would turn his back on his friends just because he is white. This makes Cassie think twice about having white friends and makes her wary and cautious in the future. Cassie doesn’t see the difference between black and white.
Later Papa gives advice to Cassie to give her courage to get revenge on Lillian Jean Simms by saying;
‘”Now there isn’t no sense in going around
being mad. You clear your mind so
you can think sensibly then, I want you
to think real hard whether or not
Lillian Jean is worth taking a stand about,
But keep in mind she won’t be the last
Person to treat you this way’”
Papa then explains what he means. He means that you take a stand for things when you feel that the time is right. He then says to her there is a time when
‘”There are things you can’t back
down on, things you gotta take a stand on’”
He means that you can’t always wait for the right time, there are some things that need to be taken a stand for right away.
Cassie then decides to get revenge on Lillian by ingratiating herself to become a friend. This is when you pretend to be someone’s friend just to please them. Cassie does this to Lillian and Lillian tells her private things about herself. Then one evening after school Cassie takes Lillian into the forest. She throws her books down and she hits her and beats her up. Cassie gets away with this because she knows Lillian Jean’s secrets and it would be humiliating if her secrets were told to everyone also Cassie uses blackmail to get her back as Lillian Jean would be humiliated if everyone found out she got beaten up by an eight year old girl, when Lillian Jean is thirteen years old. Cassie learns that if she thinks she can do the right thing then revenge can be sweet. She weighs up the consequences of her actions and then she has the pleasure of making a stand. She learns there is a way to get revenge on white people but it has to be cleverly done. She learns to control herself. She learns to think carefully before she acts. She shows that she in turning more mature. Mostly she learns she can make a stand against racism and injustice.
One night T.J knocks on the Logan’s door in the middle of the night to seek help from the Logan children. T.J has been involved in a robbery where he went to steal a gun he really wanted from the Barnett store and Mr Barnett gets hit but because Mrs Barnett comes down and shines the light on T.J. She thinks all the people are black but R.W and Melvin are wearing black stockings so, Mrs Barnett says
‘”You niggers done kill
Jim Lee Barnett’’
The Simm’s brothers wore these deliberately so they would not get blamed. T.J then threatened to tell on the Simms brothers but they beat T.J up so badly so he wouldn’t be able to tell. We are told;
‘”They beat him up with
savage blows until he could not stand’”
T.J did not know he was robbing the shop and so he thought it was okay because R.W and Melvin said they’d pay for the gun the next day. Cassie later witnesses that R.W and Melvin break into the Avery house with a lot of other men and threw them out their house T.J was battered because of the robbery and the pistol that was robbed was found in his pocket. Cassie cried when she found out T.J could be hung for murder, she cries because of the land, she says
‘”I have never liked T.J but he had
always been there, a part of me, a part
of my life and I thought he always
would be. I knew this would not pass’”
‘”I cried for T.J,
T.J and the land’”
She cries for him because a part of her has gone forever. She understands the injustice of black people and that “guilty till proven innocent” does not apply to black people. She has learnt a lot from her experiences and realises that life is unjust and black people are discriminated against.
Cassie’s learning experiences would carry on for the rest of her life, learning how cruel life can be to black people and how you have to live with it.