From this event Mildred Taylor makes me think that T.J. is not only unjust but also cowardly. He let his best friend be humiliated in front of the whole class for something he had done and didn’t have the courage to own up. The episode also helps me to understand Stacey’s character. He is only twelve years of age but several times leading up to the test he displays his maturity and responsibility. When T.J. boasts about his conquests, Stacey shows no encouragement. He thinks that the way T.J. behaves is morally wrong, (Disobeying his mother and cheating) and is not afraid to tell T.J. this. Even though T.J. is two years older than he is. Stacey knows the difference between right and wrong and doesn’t let himself get easily influenced by T.J. Apart from once when Stacey’s Uncle Hammer bought him a new wool coat for Christmas.
Stacey was so proud with his new coat that he wore it to church that very same day. Uncle Hammer had been working away so he could earn enough money that the Logan family could afford to keep their land. When he arrived back he had bought an expensive quality Packard car. So when he drove into church that Sunday everyone’s attention was on the car, for only Harlan Granger had such an expensive car like this. T.J. was one of the Packard’s many admirers and rushed up to see it only to be shooed away. This was when he noticed Stacey’s coat. T.J. feels the material of the coat, then shrugs and dismisses it. He sighs and says, “It’s all right, I guess,” His tone then changes he makes a joke, “If you like looking like a fat preacher.” T.J’s remarks causes Stacey to loose his pride in the coat, T.J. has now made him feel self – conscious. T.J. is jealous of the coat because he knows he could never be able to afford one of such high trait. His jealousy over the coat makes T.J. abuse Stacey’s trust and eventually Stacey gives the coat to T.J. When Uncle Hammer finds out he refuses to let Stacey retrieve the coat back, he yells, “If you ain’t got the brains of a flea to see that this T.J. fellow made a fool of you, then you’ll never get anywhere in this world.” Stacey listens to his Uncle’s words and learns from his mistake, ensuring that it will never happen again.
At Christmas time the Logan family truly shows their generosity. They believe that what they have should be shared and enjoyed with people that are less fortunate. This can easily be observed on account of the Logan’s invite the Avery family to their home for Christmas dinner. On this occasion Taylor lets us see the bravery and generosity of a small white child called Jeremy. Jeremy is only twelve and attends the Jefferson Davis County School for white people. He doesn’t believe in the inequality that is directed at the black people at the time but comes from an extremely racist family. Jeremy is also very fond of Stacey and wants to befriend him even though he is ridiculed and often beaten for it. So on Christmas he arrives at the Logan home filled with nineteen black people and presents Stacey with a hand-made flute as a gift. Again Taylor gives us a glimpse of T.J’s cowardly side. Due to the fact that he doesn’t comment on the flute when Mr. Logan and Uncle Hammer are around. He is obviously scared of them s waits until they both leave the room before he mentions Jeremy and the flute. He begins to make extremely disparaging remarks on the flute, “I sure wouldn’t want no whistle some ole white boy been blowin’ on.” By calling the flute a, “whistle” he is dismissing it, he is trying to say it has no value. Also Taylor makes us see that T.J. is also racist he belittles Jeremy by addressing him as, “some ole white boy.” We are forced to think, if T.J. is jealous because he wasn’t singled out. This would explain his behaviour towards the gift.
As a school pupil we know that T.J. is not an academic. At the end of examination day at Great Faith Elementary School, “the jovial mask T.J. wore had been stripped away.” Instead it had been replaced with a nasty scowl. That day in the examination Mrs. Logan had caught T.J. cheating and had failed him again. Now there is resentment for Mrs. Logan in T.J. He yells at Stacey, “All y’all Logans think y’all so doggone much with y’all’s new coats and books and shiny new Packards!” T.J. then turns his back and runs to the Wallace store. This is the start of a slippery slope for T.J.
The next day Mrs. Logan is interrupted while she is teaching by Harlan Granger and two other white school governors. Cassie had managed to be excused from her lesson to see what was happening. Both her and Stacey knew that the visit would ultimately lead to bad news. Their mother was teaching History the topic slavery. The school board, being mostly consisted of white people, who were highly racist. Wanted the black people children to be taught pro-slavery, so they could think it was a good thing. This was because in the future they didn’t want the black people to cause riots due to their history. Mrs. Logan being black clearly was against slavery and wanted the black youths to know the truth about their history. About he pain and the suffering that the white people put their ancestors through. Harlan Granger argues that she must teach what the Board of Education sets for the children. Mrs. Logan’s reply to this is, “all that’s in that book isn’t true.”
Again Taylor compels us to think of T.J. There is a definite friction between T.J. and Mrs Logan. She is his teacher and has failed him, forcing him to be kept behind while his friends move on. Mrs. Logan is a woman of integrity, she caught him cheating and therefore failed him again. We also now know that T.J. is a pernicious character. Taylor has proven this to us several times, by informing us of the times he has lied, cheated and stole. When we last mentioned T.J. he was heading to the Wallace store. I stated that “this was the start of a slippery slope for T.J.” This down hill slide has already lost Mrs. Logan’s job.
The next day T.J doesn’t turn up for school and Little Willie gives confirmation that T.J. is guilty. When he informs Stacey that he saw T.J talking to Mr. Kaleb at the Wallace store the day he was caught cheating. After school Stacey and the others walk to the Avery home with Claude to find T.J. When they arrive they find T.J. lazily swinging on an oak tree. As soon as he spots Stacey he attempts to make to make a run for it but Stacey swiftly pounces upon T.J accusing him of telling on his Mother. T.J of course denied this accusation and in his defence pleaded, “I don’t know how come Miz. Logan got fired.” T.J. became more confident in front of the Logan children now because he had spotted his mother quickly walking towards them. Stacey noticed her too and motioned for them all to go back home. Little Man was disappointed by this and asked why he didn’t beat T.J. like he deserved. Stacey’s amount of wisdom for his age is presented once more here by his answer to Little Man’s question. “What he got coming to him is worse than a beating.” These are very perceptive words for a boy of Stacey’s age to say. You would expect a twelve-year-old to be violent in such a situation but Stacey remains calm and doesn’t lose his temper.
Following the confrontation T.J. doesn’t attend school for another week, and when he returns he doesn’t go back to a warm welcome. His friends at school choose to completely ignore him. They shun him. By treating T.J. like this it reveals that the children know the difference from right and wrong. It also states that they know how to stand up for what they believe is right and for that they need to be admired. T.J. enjoys being centre of attention and can not cope with being ignored by his classmates. So later when school had ended T.J. hurriedly went after Stacey and the others in an attempt to convince the others of his innocence. But they weren’t going to allow themselves to be easily persuaded. T.J begins his plea with declaring that Little Willie had been wrong. That he had only said that to cover his own tracks because it was really him that told on Mrs. Logan. “I’m gonna beat him to a pulp, ‘round here tellin’ everybody I got Miz Logan fired” Cassie wasn’t impressed by T.J’s words and exclaimed, “Ah, stop lying T.J., don’t nobody believe you.” Stacey, Christopher-John and Little Man all agreed with Cassie. T.J. couldn’t understand that they didn’t want to hang round with him until Stacey turned his back on him. “Leave us alone. We don’t want no more to do with you.” This is when it finally hit T.J that his friends had left him and he became angry by this he screams that he didn’t need them anymore, that he was too old to hang round with little kids like them. In the end he shouted, “ Got me better friends than y’all! They give me things and treat me like a man...and they white too….” How foolish of T.J. he thinks if some one gives him things they are good friends, and if they’re white they are ultimately better friends than Stacey and the others.
We learn that the white boys that T.J. had been hanging round with were Jeremy’s older brothers R.W. and Melvin, they are both either eighteen or nineteen. On the way to school Jeremy notifies Stacey and the others that his brothers hadn’t been treating T.J. very well. He tells them that R.W. and Melvin had invited T.J. into their house when his father wasn’t home. “They treated him almost friendly like, but when he left they laughed and talked ‘bout him – called him names.” R.W. and Melvin’s father was an extreme racist and this was the reason why they never took T.J. into the house when he was there. They would have been severely punished if they did. Also we can see that they have no intentions to be T.J’s friend, by the way they treat him after he leaves their home. It is clear that R.W. and Melvin have an evil motive for being friends with T.J. otherwise they wouldn’t risk having him in the house. But unfortunately T.J. is blind to realise that R.W and Melvin are using him. He has no common sense to be able to see that the one’s that are good for him he abandoned.
In chapter ten we discover that there had been many rumours going round about T.J. befriending R.W. and Melvin. For example, Mr Turner had gone and told Stacey’s father that T.J had visited their house once with the two brothers, and after they had left he found a watch missing. These incidents happened several times. This proves that R.W. and Melvin are a bad influence on T.J. They are both thieves and are prompting T.J. to steal from the black people’s homes. From this Taylor reveals to us that T.J. is seeking attention but going about it the wrong way. Here I question myself on why he is seeking it. Did he not get attention because of the poverty in his family? Or was it because of his sick father? Whatever the explanation he was definitely obtaining plenty of recognition from R.W. and Melvin.
On the first day of the revival Uncle Hammer arrived back home without his Packard. Due to T.J. making Mrs. Logan lose her job, Uncle Hammer had to produce a sacrificial gesture by selling his Packard to support the family. Throughout the book because of T.J’s actions there has been an increase in the tension that exists between the black and white people. Uncle Hammer becomes very fidgety, he mentions a man who lives in Vicksburg who he travelled with. He says that the situation between black and white people is getting worse. Uncle Hammer is worried about leaving his family he continues, “Folks get dissatisfied with life, they start looking ‘round for somebody to take it out on…I don’t want it to be you.” Here what Uncle Hammer means is he doesn’t want the white people to have an excuse to hurt his family.
It’s the final night of the revival and it’s not the best of weather. Taylor describes the sky as a “strange yellowish cast.” Everybody at church wants to depart early so they can avoid the predicted “storm.” The word, “storm” is repeated several times, here Taylor is using a parallel technique. She is making us notice the parallel between the “storm” in nature and the “storm” in life between the white and black people. She is forcing us to see these narrative links. As the Logan family was heading into church Little Willie motioned for Stacey and the others to go over and see him and his friends, where he announces that T.J., R.W. and Melvin were coming towards them. He pointed in their direction with everybody’s eyes following his finger. Taylor wants everything to become very sultry through this quote, “Through the settling dusk three figures ambled with assurance across the wide lawn.” R.W. and Melvin on either side of T.J. As they came closer Cassie could see that his clothes were different, they weren’t tatty like they were at the start of the book. Thanks to theft the clothes he wore were wealthier. T.J foolishly brags about the clothes that the brothers have bought him, “Look see what they give me. Proudly he tugged at his suit coat.” R.W. and Melvin are secretly mocking him, “ Melvin nodded, a condescending smirk on his face which was lost on T.J.” Cassie can see that the brothers are mocking him but T.J. can not, stupidity is blinding him. He is very gullible. T.J. continued to boast about how he was R.W. and Melvin’s best friend, and they would get him anything he wanted. Anything including a pearl handled pistol. T.J. had wanted this for ages, he had shown it to Stacey and Cassie in the Barnett’s Mercantile, the day they went up to Strawberry. On that day he had told Stacey and Cassie that he would, “sell his life for that gun.” He claimed that it would offer protection. Eventually his attraction to guns led to his undoing. R.W. demanded T.J. then to hurry up and enter the pickup truck so they could head down to Strawberry to retrieve his gun. Yet he didn’t turn and leave immediately he stood on his own undecided for while. Cassie watched him, she felt sorry for him standing there looking, “desolately alone.” But in the end he turned his back on them and went with the two white brothers. This action is very final. Mildred Taylor now compels me to feel sorry for T.J. like Cassie did. I am made to think, how sad that he made the wrong decision. How sad that he didn’t stay where he belonged.
Later that night it became hot and all the Logan’s were at home asleep. Apart from Cassie who couldn’t get to sleep, she was able to hear the distant thunder. As she was just about to drop off, she heard light tapping coming from outside and decided to creep out of bed to see what it was. She discovered that it was T.J. knocking on the boy’s bedroom door calling, “Hey, Stacey, come on wake up will ya?” Stacey opened door and both T.J. and Cassie slipped in. When T.J. speaks there is a lot of repetition and pausing used which creates much sadness. “Help me Stacey. Help me get home…I can’t make it by myself.” R.W. and Melvin had beaten up T.J. and as a result his stomach was becoming a deep blue-black. Stacey refused to take T.J. anywhere until he had told him why the brothers had done this to him. T.J had no choice but to tell Stacey and Cassie his story of the event.
After he had left them at church himself, R.W. and Melvin had gone straight to Strawberry to retrieve the gun from the mercantile store but it was closed. This was when we learn about R.W and Melvin’s true motives for befriended T.J. They persuaded the young boy to squeeze through the window to let them in. With the window being so small in size only a small skinny boy like T.J. could have been able to fit through. To stop anyone from being able to identify the two brothers they cleverly covered their faces with dark stockings and their hands with gloves. So if someone were to see them they would have immediately assume that they were black. When the three boys were all inside the shop R.W. broke the glass which the gun was encased with an axe and handed it to T.J. R.W. and Melvin then went towards the wall cabinet where Mr. Barnett kept the money. R.W. had to hit the lock on that protected the cabinet a few times before it broke. Then right when Melvin had the metal tin filled with money in his hands Mr. Barnett and his wife appeared from upstairs with a flashlight. Mr. Barnett shone the flashlight at all three boys, he recognised T.J. but not his two “black” accomplishes. Once Mr. Barnett noticed that the cabinet had been broken into he entered into a rage and went for Melvin. They both struggled to obtain the metal box until R.W. hit Mr. Barnett over the head with the axe. Mrs. Barnett attempting to protect her husband flew at R.W. but didn’t get far. He slapped her right across the face this made her stumble and hit her head. All three boys ran outside T.J. was so frightened foolishly that he threatened to tell everybody at home what happened. This is when R.W. and Melvin had beaten T.J. Fortunately T.J. managed to find someone who was filling to give him a lift back to the Logan’s.
Cassie suspiciously questioned T.J. if he was telling the truth. T.J. was in such a desperate situation that he admitted to everything. “I admit I lied ‘bout tellin’ on your mamma, but I ain’t lyin’ now.” We feel sympathy for T.J. he is seriously injured, his face his pale, his eyes glazed and coughs up blood. Hurt T.J. begs Stacey not to inform his Grandmother about it, for his family will only be dragged into the predicament. “Stacey please! You my only friend… ain’t never really had no true friend but you…” Look at how late it is before T.J. can see the truth. In the end Stacey, Cassie, Christopher-John and Little Man walked T.J. back home.
Straight after T.J. had arrived home, the white men including R.W. and Melvin parked outside the Avery household. As soon as the white men had found out about the incident in Strawberry with Mr. Barnett they were ready to cause havoc. They started to pound the Avery’s door with their rifles screaming abuse, “We want that thieving, murdering nigger of y’all’s.” When they saw that nobody was leaving the house R.W. broke a window at the side of the house so that several other men could enter. A few seconds later the front door was flung open as Mr. and Mrs. Avery were dragged out by their feet, the small girls thrown out of the window and the older girls spat upon. Then finally T.J was dragged out of the house on his knees, his face smeared with blood. Here Taylor forces us to picture the horror of the situation, man’s inhumanity to man. Soon after this, headlights of two cars appeared one of vehicles stopped at Harlan Granger’s home and the other at the Avery’s. Mr. Jamison a white lawyer jumped out of the car aiming to save the situation. He remained calm and told the men to hand T.J. over to him and the sheriff so they can take care of it. But the men refused to listen to reason and Mr. Jamison was warned off and accused of being a “nigger lover.” We must admire Mr. Jamison for having the courage to stand up to all those angry and violent men for what he believes is right. The sheriff is the introduced into the scene with a message from Harlan Granger. The sheriff quotes, “He say y’all touch one hair on that boy’s head while he on this land, he’s gonna hold every man here responsible.” The white men did not take the news well until Mr. Kaleb had the idea to take the boy somewhere else and hang him. He also refers to Mr. Morrison as, “that big black giant of a nigger” so that they can hang him also. Someone then refers to Mr. Logan as, “the boy he working for” thinking that the white men might as well hang him too. By speaking of Mr. Logan in such a tone that he calls him “boy” displays total lack of respect. The Wallace’s clearly think that they are above the law that they believe they can go against the sheriff’s word. Also because of the incident with T.J. the Wallaces now had the opportunity to gain revenge on the Logan’s. The Logan’s stood didn’t approve of how the Wallace’s treated the black people. Therefore stood up for what they believed in and took trade away from the Wallace store and shopped in Vicksburg, with the support of Mr. Jamison.
All the while Stacey, Cassie, Christopher-John and Little Man had never left the scene they sat quietly behind a bush and watched. But when they heard Mr. Morrison and their father’s name mentioned Stacey sent his three younger three siblings along home to warn his parents. Cassie protested against Stacey’s request she was worried that her older brother would do something stupid in a desperate attempt to save T.J. She made him promise that he wouldn’t do anything drastic before she eventually left him alone to inform her father of what was happening. T.J. does not deserve it but Stacey has a protective nature of man. It just demonstrates what type of man Stacey really is. On Cassie’s way back home with the boys Taylor describes the weather. “Thunder crashed against the corners of the world and lightening split the sky.” Again we are made to observe the parallel between the “storm” in nature and the “storm” between the black and white people. Most importantly we are made to notice that there is mention of thunder and lightening but none of rain.
When the three children arrive home their parents are furious with worry and are about to whip the children for having the cheek just for leaving the house. However their intentions soon change after Cassie informs them of what is happening back at the Avery home. Mr. Logan’s first reaction to the news is to go down to the Avery home and do whatever he can to protect T.J. even if it resulted in him being hung himself. He trots straight to their bedroom to fetch his gun. The wisdom of Mrs. Logan tells her husband, “Get Harlan Granger to stop it.” She knows that all to do is persuade Harlan Granger to say the word and all of the men would stop. T.J’s predicament brought out the best in the Logan family. Their need to protect one another, their need to show love and care for one another. Before Mr. Logan leaves to go and save T.J. there is more proof that the “storm” is ominous. “A bolt of lightening splintering the night into a dazzling brilliance.” As the bible says, “Men love the darkness, so their evil can be committed.” This is because night is a time of darkness, which symbolises evil. Light and brilliance symbolises good.
A while after Mr. Morrison and Mr. Logan had left the two women and children were all sitting in the main room. When Mrs. Logan smelt smoke she rushed outside to find that the cotton fields were on fire. The Logan’s land and Granger’s land was right next to each other so if there was fire on one patch it was most likely to spread to the other. So back the Avery home Mr. Jamison had jumped in his car and blocked off the road so that none of the men could get passed with T.J. When suddenly Mr. Granger came flying out of his house yelling, “There’s smoke coming from my forest yonder! Give that boy to Wade like he wants and get on up there!” Like Mrs. Logan had predicted all that was needed to save T.J’s life was to have Mr. Granger say the word. That night both blacks and whites worked together side by side to save the land.
Following the fire Mr. Jamison visited the Logan house to see Mr. Logan and warned him that he should keep out of the T.J. situation otherwise people will think he should lose more than a quarter of his land. “Or somebody might just get to wondering about that fire.” Here we are made to assume that it was Mr. Logan that set his own land on fire, in a sacrificial attempt to save T.J. Mr. Jamison. Also came with some bad news Mr. Barnett had died that morning this would mean that because T.J. was the only person identified, he would get accused of murder. If found guilty he would serve a death sentence. Stacey and Cassie were both devastated when their father told them this information. Stacey was extremely hurt by the news that he ran off into the woods. He knew that their wasn’t any evidence at all to find T.J. innocent and he would ultimately die.
The problem with T.J was he never thought before he acted, which had some serious consequences. Also he didn’t have any common sense to see what was really going on around him, he became blind to the obvious. Finally I think T.J. was overall an attention seeker that’s the reason why he done the things he did. He wasn’t obtaining enough attention at home so he looked for it somewhere else. But unfortunately he looked in the wrong places and it ended him into to trouble, which ultimately ended him.
