“Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry” Review
Tailor’s novel shows how racism and injustice continues even after when black slavery was ended as it is an unfortunate part of America’s history. Cassia experiences racism and injustice in the store at Strawberry since she was treated unfairly since she had to give priority to white people in the queue Just because of the color of her skin. In this essay, it will contain how racism and injustice Is shown when Cassia was at the store, how It affects the reader and the Intentions of the author In this passage.
Racial discrimination Is when you are showing abusive behavior towards members of another race, In this case It Is Mr.. Barnett discriminating Cassia. Injustice Is shown throughout the passage as white people were superior to black people as they were segregated by the Jim Crow Laws which gave white people more power over black people. In the passage, Mildred D Taylor shows that racial discrimination still existed during the Great Depression as Cassia was racially abused. For example, “Whose little Ruggeri Is this! This reveals that Mr.. Barnett Is a racist person as he Is purposely calling classes a “Ruggeri” which Is offensive to black people. The writers intention to use the word “Niger” was to show that it was an alternative word to call a black person and how it was used frequently during the Great Depression and the slavery times towards black people. This makes the reader understand the word “nighВ« was a word used every day and offensively towards black people during the Great Depression.
It was also so common that white people felt it was alright to say “inning towards a black person since there was no consequences for saying a racist word as black people were inferior. However, even Hough the word “Niger made Cassia angry since she doesn’t understand that white people were superior during the Great Depression but Stacey seems to understand and had to accept this as he is older than Cassia so therefore, he has experienced more things such as this event but inside him, he retains his anger as he knows the consequences.
This creates an effect on the reader as he/she would think this is vile and disgusting so therefore, since Cassia loves making revenge plans, the reader would be eager meaning that he/she will continue reading to find out more. This elapse the reader to understand that even after when black slavery was ended, black people were still continuously discriminated with the word “Niger” as the Jim Crow Laws kept white people superior to black people. Mildred D Taylor also shows that Injustice still existed during the Great Depression as black people were not allowed to question/speak up for themselves.
For example “This gal your, Hazel? ‘ ‘No sun,’ answered the women meekly, stepping hastily away to show she had nothing to do with me”. This shows that black people wasn’t allowed to speak up for themselves because of the UK Klux Klan as they threatened black people. The Jim Crow Laws allowed white people to gain superiority over black people so therefore; If a white person killing a black person, the white person will not be charged meaning that Injustice existed even when slavery was finished so black people lived In fear as Hazel was “stepping hastily away to show she had nothing to do with” Classes.
The writer’s Intention was to show that black people wasn’t allowed to speak up for themselves so therefore, they still didn’t have freedom even after slavery was ended people. This helps the reader to understand that during the Great Depression, black people were muzzled by white people because there was a lot of injustice and racism towards black people which made black people inferior. In the passage, black people were not allowed to touch white people which made black people inferior. For example, “and tugged on his shirt sleeve to get his attention.
He recoiled as if I struck him”. This shows that some white people like Mr.. Barnett didn’t like to be touched by black people because he thinks that they are dirty and disgusting as he “recoiled” when Cassia tried to get his attention. From this, the writer’s intention is to show that white people didn’t like being in contact with black people as they think they are too superior to them during the Great Depression. The writer also showed that black people was viewed as dirty people so therefore, white people didn’t allow black people to touch them.
This helps the reader to understand that not only black people was discriminated but they wasn’t allowed to touch white people which means they didn’t have freedom as they couldn’t touch white people and they were treated like filth. The writer also intended too “recoiled as if I struck him”. This creates an effect n the reader as it gives a better imagery of how Mr.. Barnett reacted when Cassia tried to get his attention. If a black person touched a white person then the black person would be punished and would probably be lynched Just because he touched a white person.
This is similar to Emmett Till’s case but instead he said “Bye, baby’ to a white female as he was leaving a store but then he was tortured and murdered because of what he said. This shows that black people had no freedom as they could only do certain things towards a white person but instead white people would be able to do anything to them. In the passage, Mildred D Taylor shows that racial discrimination and injustice continued during the Great Depression as black people were treated unfairly. In this case, Mr.. Barnett treated Cassia as an inferior person so he told Cassia to get her “little black self back over there and wait some more”.
This reveals that black people had to be served last in a queue which shows that black people were treated unfairly during the Great Depression as Cassia was forced to wait longer even though she waited for a while. Mr.. Barnett also shows no respect towards black people as he said “little black self”. The writer’s intention is to show that black people was racially discriminated in a shop as they were treated unfairly and had to wait until all the white people was served during the Great Depression.
This helps the reader to understand that even black children was racially discriminated during the Great Depression as Cassia had to wait longer until all white people was served but Cassia understands that adults “ruled things and there was nothing that could be don’t about them. ” This reveals that Cassia understands things about adults but doesn’t understand why white people are superior to white people and also made Cassia upset as she was being so kind to Mr.. Barnett but Mr.. Barnett responded rudely.
In conclusion, this passage helps the reader in many ways to understand the theme of racism and injustice such as understanding how life was like being a black person during the Great Depression, how unfair it was and how they lived in fear such as when Cassia was racially abused by Mr.. Barnett. Injustice and racism is shown throughout the passage as Mr.. Barnett racially discriminates Cassia. The passage also helps the reader to understand the theme of racism and as when Hazel was scared and had to be silenced by Mr.. Barnett.
