A Comparison of Cassie and T.J. in the novel 'Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry'

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A Comparison of Cassie and T.J. in the novel

'Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry'

The novel, 'Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry,' by Mildred D. Taylor is about the struggle between the blacks and whites, about thirty years after slavery. Set in the 1930's, in the Mississippi, where slavery was very much supported, growing up is harsh for a young black girl. The story is about Cassie, aged nine, growing up learning about the harsh situation, fighting her own personal fights and discovering her feelings about T.J. . Cassie has to persevere by remembering her mothers words: 'every body born this earth is something, and nobody, no matter what colour, is better then anybody else.'

Cassie, the main character, tells the story from her own perspective; this helps the reader think like her. She is a mother figure and has a strong sense of her individuality, shown throughout the book. She is loyal, inquisitive, clever and forthright. T.J. , also a main character, is quite different to Cassie; he is disloyal, a cheat, lazy and he talks a lot. His disloyalty is shown especially  when he lets others take the blame for his own wrong doing like the cheating incidents. He ,like Cassie, is very clever, but uses it in the wrong way. Both Cassie and T.J. speak in the southern dialect and accent.

 

Cassie does not, and cannot accept the way things are between black folks and white folks. This is shown in chapter one when Cassie refuses to take the 'new' school book, like her brother Little Man, because the front page classified them as nigre and that they got the book last: ' See Miz Crocker, see what it says. They give us these ole books when they didn't want 'em no more.'  It is also shown in chapter five when Cassie goes to Strawberry and Cassie can't accept the reason 'them's white folks' wagons,' and later on, Cassie fights back to Mr Barnett because she thought it was unfair he served white folks first, especially a child. She is persistent and her short-temper shows through. She takes revenge, is outspoken and says things like 'you got no right.'  'I ain't nobody's  little nigger.' and ' I already know what I am, but I betcha you don't know what you are, you ole …'. After this, while still in much distress, she bumps in to Lillian Jean, who demands an apology. Cassie doesn’t want to as Lillian Jean is not much older than her but is forced to by Big Ma: ' her voice cracking as she spoke. ' go on child, apologise.'  and  ' a painful tear slid down my cheek,' I'm sorry…M-Miz … Lillian Jean.' This is because, in the Mississippi, things like this happening is very risky and I don’t think Cassie understands this and so far, she has been lucky.

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Cassie is also very clever, in school and out.  Cassie got top exam marks for her year but she is clever also for the readers benefit; she asks lots of questions for the reader, many of which she already knows the answer of: like in chapter four when she asks questions about their family history, for which she already knows the answers. Cassie also eavesdrops quite a bit and is curious; without this, the story would be quite different. This is also an example of her knowing what others want to know and what people are thinking e.g. in ...

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