To What Extent Does Mildred Taylor Portray T.J. as a Victim of the Times?

To What Extent Does Mildred Taylor Portray T.J. as a

Victim of the Times?

The novel ‘Roll of Thunder’ is based around racism and discrimination, during the 1930’s. Mildred Taylor has chosen to set her novel in a time where black people were discriminated against. The context in which the story is set is a conscious choice of the writer to emphasise the extent of racism. T.J. is used by Mildred Taylor to represent the injustices the Black community were subjected to in these times. Although T.J. is not portrayed as a victim throughout the novel, he is certainly seen as a victim during the concluding chapters of the book.

The narrative is by a young girl of ten years, Cassie. Cassie is a very opinionated, strong willed character who tends to judge people at face value, without taking other factors into consideration. This could be seen as a hindrance in such a novel, a novel that is being used to exploit racism and could benefit from a more open-viewed narrator. In this book however, the character is purposefully made to be single-minded by Mildred Taylor because it encourages the reader to think in more depth about the story.

The author uses this narrow perspective of T.J. to encourage the reader to realise that he is a victim of the times. This realisation is encouraged not through Cassie’s opinion but because she cannot see this fact until nearing the end of the story. Cassie’s view of T.J. is blunt, ‘I didn’t like T.J. very much,’ and during the beginning of the book the reader is persuaded that T.J. is not a nice person as there is no evidence otherwise. As the book proceeds however, the reader can show more insight into details that Cassie overlooks. This is as the writer intends, it helps to include the reader more in the book and is a similar idea to dramatic irony used on the stage. Mildred Taylor has used Cassie’s simplistic views of T.J. to persuade the reader to think more deeply. She has used this simple point of view to show that the effect of racism is not always obvious and as the reader comes to realise that T.J. is a victim, Taylor’s central theme is portrayed.

To help the reader understand that T.J. is a victim of the times, Mildred Taylor uses other characters to show a more balanced opinion of him. Stacey is often used in this way; he is one of the few characters that show sympathy towards T.J. Stacey demonstrates a certain level of understanding about T.J.’s position and why he is how he is. Cassie once said:

‘As far back as I could remember, Stacey had felt a responsibility for T.J. I had never understood why. Perhaps he felt that even a person as despicable as T.J. needed someone ...

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‘As far back as I could remember, Stacey had felt a responsibility for T.J. I had never understood why. Perhaps he felt that even a person as despicable as T.J. needed someone he could call a “ friend”, or perhaps he sensed T.J.’s vulnerability better than T.J. did himself.’

Being older Stacey realizes that T.J. is a vulnerable person that’s personality is not bad, just misguided. Had T.J. been born in the modern day where such discrimination is not present it seems unlikely he would appear so cruel as he did in the opening chapters. It is this recognition, that T.J. is affected by the prejudice around him, which allows Stacey to dismiss T.J.’s sometimes-hurtful actions.

Papa is also another character use by Mildred Taylor to help the reader understand how difficult the times were, especially for people like TJ. The Avery family sharecrops on Granger land, so although Cassie doesn’t understand how different life is for T.J. Papa does. He once said to Cassie:

‘You ain’t never had to live on nobody’s place but your own and long as I live and the family survives you won’t have to. That’s important. You may not understand that now, but one day you will. Then you’ll see.’

It is only nearing the end of the novel that Cassie comes to understand this, but the reader understands a lot earlier. T.J.’s whole family depends on Whites; they own the land the family earns their money from. Without them his family could not survive, it is therefore understandable that he may be more tolerant of the Whites‘ actions than many others and not object to the discrimination.

Papa and Stacey play important roles in truly understanding T.J. and why he does the things he does. By viewing Stacey’s actions towards T.J. and understanding the situation T.J. is subjected to via Papa it is possible for the reader to understand why T.J. does specific things. The underlying facts of T.J.’s life can help the reader comprehend why he can act so irrationally at times. His dependence on White people must surely explain why he feels that he owes Whites something and that he should respect them. T.J. has been bought up in the debt of White people, so understandably his personality has formed in such a way that he respects Whites and does not have the confidence like Cassie to speak out against their discriminative attitudes.

When Papa talked about the land to Cassie it also showed a deep affection within the Logan family, a love of the land and a love of each other. The Logans are a close-knit family who care deeply about one another and for a Black family were doing very well, owning there own piece of land rather than sharecropping. Comparing this to T.J.’s poverty stricken life and troubled family, his desire to be liked by the Simmses’ seems more reasonable. T.J. never experiences the tranquility of a happy family; his life is plagued by a jealousy for those with more than him. This background helps explain the incident between he and Stacey where he spitefully ridiculed Stacey about his coat. Describing him as looking like a ‘fat preacher’. These actions are symptomatic of his background, the lack of a loving relationship with his family leave T.J. not appreciating or recognizing those who really care about him like Stacey. T.J. is a victim of the time, the poverty, especially during the Depression, caused him to become deceitful and encouraged jealousy and is likely to be the cause of the break down in relations between his family and friends.

This difficult background also left effects on his personality. T.J. is both naïve and insecure, characteristics undoubtedly a result of his difficult upbringing. His insecurity was shown when he craved a gun. His reason was:

‘There’s other things a boy needs protectin’ from more than a rattlesnake. I get me that gun and ain’t nobody gonna mess with me.’

T.J.’s insecurity is obvious; it is not only this physical insecurity but also mentally. He finds it difficult to trust people, like Stacey. He has never been able to rely on his parents, so he finds it difficult to trust other people. Cassie does not understand this she often says thoughtless comments like, ‘you sure you ain’t lying, TJ?’ and ‘Yeah, shut up, TJ.’ With people voicing comments like this it is no wonder T.J. has very little self confidence and finds it hard to trust people.

The insecurity clear in T.J. is also a direct result of the time he lives in. T.J. has grown up in a world of discrimination where he is continually reminded he is inferior and is victimised by white people. A perfect example of this was the situation with R.W and Melvin. T.J. for once in his life felt he was no longer inferior, he felt important and valued. The most important fact to him though was that they were White. This is shown when he says:

‘Got me better friends than y’all! They give me things and treat me like I’m a man…and they white too…’

All his life he had felt inferior and he finally felt accepted. To the reader it was always obvious the friendship was far less equal than T.J. imagined, Mildred Taylor used language to underline this difference. T.J.’s strong accent, which would be associated with a poor person, stood out particularly during this part of the book. She uses the striking differences in speech to portray to the reader just how different the Black and White people are and the startling extent of difference in their quality of lives.

It is in the last chapters of the book where it is made undeniably obvious that T.J. is a victim of the times. T.J. is held responsible for a crime that he did not solely commit, a crime that in an equal and fair society three people would have been punished for, a crime that could never justify such a cruel punishment.

T.J does not deserve the punishment the men imply he will receive. T.J. made a mistake, but a mistake that’s consequences were only so serious because of the times in which he lives. The White men show clear prejudice and discrimination, they do not consider how severe the punishment should be. They immediately decide that T.J. should be killed, this decision is merely based around the colour of his skin and the fact that they feel they are superior.

Mildred Taylor does portray T.J. as a Victim of the Times frequently within the novel. It is during the last chapters that it becomes most clear but throughout the book it is always an underlying factor. The moving ending of the book really brings the portrayal to light. T.J is portrayed as a victim, in the way that however he behaved, even when he tried so hard to be friends with R.W and Melvin, he was never going to be an equal because he was Black. The most powerful sentence in the novel, ‘I cried for TJ. For TJ and the land,’ is the ending note of the book. Even Cassie whom throughout the novel had disliked T.J. finally realised he was a victim of the cruel times in which they lived.