Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1976

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-12

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Chapters 7-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 7 Summary

Mary asks Stacey to fetch his new coat. After hesitating, Stacey confesses that he gave his coat to T.J. after T.J. suggested the coat fit him better than it did Stacey. Mama orders Stacey to retrieve the coat, but Uncle Hammer stops Stacey. He tells Stacey that he does not deserve the coat if he did not have sense enough to see through T.J.’s trickery. Cassie decides never to upset Uncle Hammer. The children attend the last days of school before Christmas break. Cassie dislikes passing Lillian Jean but does not act on her feelings. She also dislikes seeing T.J. in Stacey’s coat.

On the night before Christmas Eve, Cassie’s father comes home. The family prepares a Christmas feast the next day. David and Uncle Hammer tell fun stories from their childhood. As the storytelling goes on, though, it becomes upsetting. Mr. Morrison tells how white men attacked his home and killed his family one Christmas when he was six years old. When Mr. Morrison refers to his parents as “breeded stock,” Cassie asks what he means. Mr. Morrison explains that his parents were slaves, and their parents were selected to produce children together based on their desirable physical traits. The Logans go to bed feeling somber.

Disturbed by Mr. Morrison’s tale, Cassie awakens in the night. She eavesdrops on a conversation between her parents, Uncle Hammer, and Big Ma. Mary wants to boycott the Wallace store, but Big Ma worries because Mr. Granger supports the Wallaces. David supports Mary’s plan to shop in Vicksburg but draws the line at extending credit for shopping to their neighbors. He spots Cassie and sends her back to bed.

On Christmas morning, the Logan children receive books and sweets along with clothes from Uncle Hammer. Little Man especially appreciates his new pants and sweater. T.J.’s family comes over for a 2-hour dinner after a church service. Jeremy Simms knocks on the door after dinner. The Logans feel uncomfortable because of their anger towards Jeremy’s father and sister. Jeremy gifts the Logans a bag of nuts and gives Stacey a wooden flute that he carved. David asks Jeremy if Mr. Simms knows Jeremy came to visit the Logans. When Jeremy says that Mr. Simms does not know, David suggests Jeremy leave.

Stacey and his father discuss Stacey’s friendship with Jeremy. David says that inequality makes it difficult to remain friends with a white person over time. David tells Stacey that “down here in Mississippi, it costs too much to find out” if a white person will make a true friend (158). The next day, David, Uncle Hammer, and Mr. Morrison drive to Vicksburg. Mary will not tell the children why they went. The lawyer, Mr. Jamison, meets the men at the Logans’ house upon their return. Mr. Jamison helps Big Ma sign the land over to Uncle Hammer and David.

Mr. Jamison asks about the plan to shop in Vicksburg instead of at the Wallace store. He offers to provide credit for the families shopping there and says he has considered the consequences of helping the Black families. Mr. Jamison reveals that Harlan Granger rents land to the Wallaces. Mr. Granger will lose money if the Black families boycott the Wallace store, and he may target the Logans. Mr. Granger remains eager to reclaim the Logans’ land. Mr. Jamison also says that Mr. Granger will be angered that Black families dare act against the Wallaces.

David, Uncle Hammer, and Mr. Morrison buy goods for several families in Vicksburg. Mr. Granger comes to the Logans’ house the next day. He suggests that if the Logans continue to help families shop in Vicksburg, he may pressure their bank to collect the entire mortgage on their land at once. Uncle Hammer mentions the burning of the Berry family, but Mr. Granger ignores him. Mr. Granger threatens to raise prices for his sharecroppers to prevent them from paying their debts for the Vicksburg goods. When the Logans remain defiant, Mr. Granger expresses confidence that he will reclaim the Logans’ land.

Chapter 8 Summary

To Stacey’s surprise, Cassie calls out to Lillian Jean on the walk to school one January morning. Cassie carries Lillian Jean’s books and says that she has accepted her place in society. Lillian Jean praises Cassie. When Lillian Jean reaches her school, Cassie’s siblings express confusion about her behavior. T.J. teases Cassie. Jeremy tells Cassie that Lillian Jean “ain’t worth it” (173). Stacey orders his brothers and T.J. not to tell Mary about Cassie’s overtures. Before the children go to class, T.J. again asks Stacey to help him cheat on a test. Stacey angrily refuses.

Cassie reveals that Uncle Hammer has returned to Chicago. Shortly after he left, Cassie spoke with her father in the forest. David told her that her temper could cause trouble. He advised her to pick her battles and respect herself. He also warned her that making the wrong decision about how to handle Lillian Jean could lead to confrontation between himself and Mr. Simms. In the present day, Cassie continues to flatter a responsive Lillian Jean. Cassie learns about Lillian Jean’s crushes, rivalries, and other secrets.

T.J. and Stacey argue after Mary catches T.J. cheating on another test. T.J. claims to hate the Logans and runs off to the Wallace store. Cassie meets Lillian Jean along the road. She tells Lillian Jean that she wants to show her a surprise in the forest. When the girls have walked into the forest, Cassie throws Lillian Jean’s books to the ground and refuses to pick them up. Lillian Jean slaps Cassie, who tackles her in return. The girls fight until Cassie forces Lillian Jean to apologize for the way she and her family have treated Cassie. Cassie threatens to reveal Lillian Jean’s secrets if she tells anyone that Cassie fought her. Lillian Jean asks Cassie why she turned on her after behaving so nicely, but Cassie does not answer.

While scolding Cassie for daydreaming in class, Miss Crocker reveals that Cassie scored the highest marks in her class on the exam. Cassie sees Kaleb, one of the Wallace brothers, outside of her school and invents an excuse to go investigate. She sees Kaleb walk to Mary’s classroom with Harlan Granger. Mr. Granger, Kaleb, and another white man tell Mary that they are school board members come to observe her teaching. Mary delivers a lesson about slavery and the exploitation of Black labor. Mr. Granger fires Mary, claiming that she taught information that was not in the textbook.

The Logan children walk home with Mary. At home, Mary tells Big Ma and David how Mr. Granger fired her. She suspects that he did it in retaliation for the Logans’ Vicksburg shopping. Mary goes for a walk. Mr. Morrison offers to look for a job to help make up for lost income, but David asks him to stay with the family. The children worry about Mary. David explains how Mary’s father saved money so that she could study to become a teacher. He asks the children to be especially kind to Mary.

Cassie learns that after Mary punished T.J. for cheating, T.J. badmouthed Mary at the Wallace store. He said that Mary kept people from visiting the store, and that she ruined the textbooks. The Logan children go to T.J.’s house after school. Stacey tackles T.J. and accuses him of telling the Wallaces bad things about Mary. T.J. denies getting Mary in trouble, but Stacey does not believe him.

T.J. skips school for several days. When he returns, the other students shun him. T.J. finally admits that he spoke about Mary at the Wallace store. He gives a lukewarm apology, but the Logan children do not accept it. T.J. tells the Logans that he no longer needs them as friends because he has new white friends.

Chapter 9 Summary

Spring comes to Mississippi, bringing wet earth and baby animals. Cassie grows eager for school to adjourn so that she can spend her days outdoors. Jeremy says that he will miss the Logan children, as his school year does not end until May. Jeremy dislikes his siblings. He tells the Logans that T.J. spends time with his older brothers, but that his brothers do not treat T.J. well. Cassie asks her mother why the Simms brothers would socialize with T.J. Mary speculates that the brothers laugh at and use T.J.

Mr. Jamison comes to tell David that Thurston Wallace has vowed to stop families from shopping in Vicksburg. Cassie overhears Mary admit that she feels afraid. David reassures his wife. As summer approaches, David tells his family that he must leave to work on the railroad. Cassie tries to persuade him to stay, but the Logans need railroad money to pay their mortgage on the land.

T.J.’s father and Mr. Lanier visit the Logans. Both men want to cancel their order for items from Vicksburg. Mr. Granger has raised the rent for their shares of land. Mr. Granger also threatened to kick the families off his land. The Wallaces visited the men’s homes and threatened to have them jailed for debt. Stacey expresses anger at the men for canceling their Vicksburg orders, but David tells him, “It’s hard on a man to give up, but sometimes it seems there just ain’t nothing else he can do” (205). Still, David tells Cassie that the Logans will not give up.

After her bedtime, Cassie eavesdrops on her parents. David plans to see which families remain committed to Vicksburg, but Mary believes David and Mr. Morrison should cancel their shopping trip. David resists. He wants to take Stacey along on the trip and educate him so that Stacey will not turn out like T.J. Mary and David both worry about T.J.’s future. David, Stacey, and Mr. Morrison leave for Vicksburg in the wagon on a Wednesday. They do not return as expected on Thursday. A rainstorm hits. The family anxiously awaits news of the wagon’s whereabouts.

On Thursday night, the wagon returns. Mr. Morrison carries a badly injured David into the Logan’s home. David has a broken leg and a head injury. Mary ushers the children into their rooms. Stacey tells Cassie that someone may have tampered with the Logans’ wagon wheels. When David tried to fix the wheels, a truck drove by and someone inside shot David, grazing his head. The wagon rolled over David’s leg. Stacey blames himself for not controlling the wagon well when the men came. Mr. Morrison fought the men off. Stacey believes the Wallaces executed the attack. Stacey reassures his siblings that their father will survive.

Chapters 7-9 Analysis

In these chapters, the novel’s mood seesaws from joyous to somber and back again. As the Logans prepare for Christmas, they celebrate David’s return with contagious excitement. Cassie rushes to her father’s side, and David exclaims “Ah, there’s my Cassie girl!” (145). Decorations and a homemade feast add to a mood of warmth and contentment. But Cassie’s narration quickly prepares readers for a change: “as the night deepened and the peanuts in the pan grew shallow,” she says, “the voices grew hushed” (147). Mr. Morrison’s story about the death of his family at the hands of white men closes the Christmas Eve festivities on a sad, somber note. A similar reversal of mood occurs when Cassie pranks Lillian Jean. The exuberance generated because Cassie outwits her rival gives way to bitterness as Mary loses her teaching job. Cassie voices her own feelings about Mary’s treatment, which likely mirror those of many readers: “I felt resentful and angry, and I hated Mr. Granger” (185).

Alongside the details of Cassie’s education, the novel tracks Stacey’s continued maturation. These chapters characterize Stacey as serious and eager to take on responsibility. Shaken by Uncle Hammer’s lecture after Stacey gave T.J. his new coat, Stacey thinks more carefully about his friendships. He discusses the complexities of friendship between Black and white children with David. Stacey also stops accepting T.J.’s excuses for heedless behavior. He tells T.J. that the Logan children “don’t want no more to do with [him]” (193). Stacey’s emphasis on personal growth makes his guilt over his father’s broken leg more affecting. Stacey’s voice cracks as he says “It’s m-my fault his leg’s busted!” (215). Like Cassie’s, Stacey’s education requires a reckoning with racism.

Several plotlines begin to converge in these chapters. Notably, the Logans’ plan to shop in Vicksburg for themselves and other families accelerates Mr. Granger’s scheme to reclaim the Logans’ land. Cassie recognizes Mr. Granger’s false civility toward her family, saying that he speaks to them in a “folksy dialect” that he uses “in spite of his college education” (166). The overlap of Mr. Granger’s interest with those of the Wallaces implies the entrenched systems of racism that the Logans confront. By avoiding the Wallace store, they set off a chain reaction that activates Mr. Granger, the bank, and other landowners who rent to sharecropping families. As Mr. Granger threatens: “There’s lots of ways of stopping you, David” (170).