Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Stacey’s maturation over the course of the novel parallels Cassie’s. As she navigates racism and violence from the perspective of a 9-year old girl, Stacey grapples with the responsibilities and expectations of a 12-year old boy. Stacey’s longing for increased responsibility to his family manifests in his initial resentment of Mr. Morrison. While his siblings appreciate Mr. Morrison, Stacey “remained aloof and had little to do with him” (77). Stacey clearly explains the reason for his attitude: “Don’t need him here,” he tells Cassie; “All that work he doing, I could’ve done it myself” (78). Stacey’s eventual fondness for Mr. Morrison also depends on responsibility. Mr. Morrison encourages Stacey to confess that he fought T.J. at the Wallace store. When Stacey sees that Mr. Morrison seeks to support Stacey in making responsible choices, “his eyes met Mr. Morrison’s and the two of them smiled in subtle understanding” (88). Stacey’s parents ultimately give him more responsibility by allowing him to travel to Vicksburg with Mr. Morrison and David.

To meet the expectations of his family and himself, Stacey must carefully evaluate his friendships. His painful rejection of T.J. marks a turning point in his maturation. Though he once allowed T.J. to talk him out of keeping a new coat, Stacey grows wise enough to withstand T.J.’s trickery. Stacey tells T.J. to “leave us alone” after T.J.’s loose talk gets Mary Logan fired. He says that the Logan children “don’t want no more to do with you” (193). Stacey also considers his parents’ standards when evaluating his relationship with Jeremy Simms. Stacey appreciates Jeremy’s overtures and wants to believe in Jeremy’s goodness, but he values David’s opinion on their friendship. He treasures the flute Jeremy gifts him for Christmas and continues to speak with Jeremy, but, with David’s advice in mind, turns down Jeremy’s offer to visit his tree fort. Stacey’s reckoning with expectations and responsibilities foreshadows the next stage of Cassie’s maturation.

Cassie’s thoughtful, deliberate mother “was tawny-colored, thin and sinewy, with delicate features in a strong-jawed face” (33). The daughter of a tenant farmer, “she’s born to teaching like the sun is born to shine” (187). Mary’s dedication to education extends beyond classroom settings. She schools her children and community members in the ways of the world, helping them to recognize reality but also to imagine new possibilities. Mary spearheads the plan to boycott the Wallace store, teaching her neighbors why they should support it. Mary’s activism explains why “she was still considered by many of the other teachers as a disrupting maverick. Her ideas were always a bit too radical and her statements a bit too pointed” (30).

Cassie frequently eavesdrops on her parents’ conversations, so Mary teaches Cassie even when she does not know that her daughter listens. When Mary plans the Wallace store boycott, for instance, Cassie hears her say, “It may not be real justice, but it’ll hurt them, and we’ll have done something” (151). As Cassie comes of age, Mary provides a positive example for Cassie to emulate. Cassie helps Mary dress for church and admires her mother’s smell of “sunshine and soap” (131). She asks Mary to style her hair and asks, “One day, Mama, you gonna fix my hair like yours?” (132). Cassie does not often speak affectionately, so the earnest admiration she professes for Mary stands out.

A “tall and strongly built” woman with “clear, smooth skin the color a pecan shell,” Big Ma works hard in service of her family. She joins her grandchildren in the cotton fields, washes their clothes, and sells goods at the Strawberry market. Big Ma also works to remember and retell her family’s history, ensuring that Cassie and her brothers have historical context for the world they inhabit. Her stories about the family’s land help Cassie understand why Mary and David vow not to sell the property. Big Ma tells her: “Now all the boys I got is my baby boys…They blood’s in this land” (94). Big Ma’s connection to history and the land informs her skill as a healer. Cassie notes that Big Ma “was good at medicines,” and says, “people often called her instead of a doctor when they were sick” (9). Although Big Ma prefers to heal people, she can take tough action when necessary. Big Ma guards the Logans’ home with a rifle to protect against the Wallace brothers. She also fights the fire alongside Mary and a large group of men, lugging a tub of water right into the danger. Cassie shares a bedroom with Big Ma and shares some of her grandmother’s strength, too. 

Cassie’s father calms his family’s fears with his competence and his confidence. A tall man with a “square, high-cheekboned face” and a “wide smile,” David speaks and acts deliberately. When Cassie feels incensed by Lillian Jean, for instance, David tells her to “clear [her] head so [she] can think sensibly” (176). It pains David to see his children mistreated, but he places their education above his own feelings. Cassie’s father teaches her through both advice and actions. As he tells Mr. Jamison: “I want these children to know we tried, and what we can’t do now, maybe one day, they will” (164). Lifelong encounters with racism have not robbed David of the hope that his family’s circumstances will improve.

Cassie’s Uncle Hammer provides the perspective of a Black person who migrates out of the South. When he visits Mississippi, Hammer expresses impatience and anger toward racist institutions and customs. His reactions are due partly to his life in Chicago, but they also stem from his fiery temperament. Cassie notes that Hammer “had dark, red-brown skin, a square-jawed face, and high cheekbones” like David. Unlike David, though, Hammer “often had a cold, distant glaze, and there was an aloofness in him” (119). Yet, Hammer’s thorny disposition coexists with deep loyalty to his family. That loyalty significantly affects the novel’s plot. By selling his car and borrowing money, Hammer prevents the Logans from losing their land.

A “tall, emaciated-looking boy,” T.J. attends 7th grade with Stacey after failing the same grade the previous year (8). Although T.J. initially seems like a mostly harmless nuisance, his behavior progresses from mischievous to damaging and criminal. Mary speculates that T.J. “just wants attention, but he’s going after it the wrong way” (198). T.J.’s poor choices eventually make him a cautionary tale for Black parents. David, for instance, says that he wants Stacey to grow up strong and avoid becoming “a fool like T.J.” (207). Though T.J. earns the derision that his community comes to feel for him, his mistreatment by the Simms brothers casts T.J. in a pitiful light; even Cassie mourns T.J.’s fate, despite never liking him. By placing an unpopular character in the role of tragic figure, Taylor shows that no one deserves racist, unjust treatment. 

Mr. Granger acts as the Logan family’s most powerful antagonist. Although he does not commit violence, Mr. Granger enables men like the Wallaces and Simms to hurt and kill Black people. He upholds unjust systems through financial maneuvers and influence. When the bank suddenly requires the Logans to pay their mortgage loan in full, Mary and David know that Mr. Granger prompted the bank’s action. Mr. Jamison explains Mr. Granger’s behavior by referencing history: “Ever since we were boys,” he says, “Harlan’s lived in the past. His grandmother filled him with all kinds of tales about the glory of the South before the war” (163). Though David temporarily outwits Mr. Granger by maintaining ownership of the Logan land and halting T.J.’s lynching, the novel ends without a permanent resolution to the men’s feud. 

Twelve-year old Lillian Jean serves as Cassie’s direct antagonist in the novel. While the adults in Cassie’s family struggle deal with threats from the Wallace and Granger families, Cassie tries to outwit Lillian Jean. By pretending to befriend Lillian Jean and then forcing her to apologize, Cassie finds a way to strike back at racist behavior without bringing more violence to her family’s doorstep. Lillian Jean’s behavior shows how generations of white families disseminate racist ideas. She believes the white supremacist teachings of her father and brothers and practices them on Cassie. 

Jeremy clumsily but persistently tries to befriend the Logan children. An outcast among his white family and friends, he strikes Cassie as “a strange boy” (14). Yet, Jeremy proves himself a surprisingly reliable ally. He tries to stop his father from bullying Cassie in Strawberry and delivers useful information to the Logans on the night of the fire. Jeremy’s inclusion in the novel prompts an insightful conversation about friendship between Stacey and David. His overtures raise the question of whether relationships forged within a system of inequality can succeed without hurting the unequal partner. Though David doubts that they can, Stacey remains hopeful and warily accepts Jeremy’s company.

Cassie’s younger brothers are sympathetic figures because of the sadness with which they respond to racism. Little Man, Cassie’s fastidious youngest brother “never allowed dirt or tears or stains to mar anything he owned” (4). Thus, he feels devastated when the school bus repeatedly soils his carefully selected outfits and distraught when he receives a tattered textbook. Little Man’s tears arouse his family member’s sympathy and partly motivate Stacey to sabotage the school bus. Christopher-John, Cassie’s seven-year-old brother, “took little interest in troublesome things, preferring to remain on good terms with everyone” and “was always sensitive to others” (5). Like Little Man, his sensitivity often leaves him in tears. When he sees his friend, Claude, hurt along with T.J., Christopher-John’s horror is particularly affecting. He whimpers his friend’s name and attempts to stand despite the danger of exposing himself to the white men. 

A “human tree” with a “massive body” and skin “of the deepest ebony,” Mr. Morrison teaches the Logan children—and readers—about slavery, suffering, and decency. He also stretches the novel’s definition of what constitutes a family. Although Mr. Morrison lost his parents and siblings to racist murderers when he was only six, he finds a new sense of belonging with the Logans.

Mr. Jamison “was a long, thin man in his mid-fifties with a perfect lawyer face” (160). Like Jeremy Simms, he stands out as a white character who treats the Logan family with respect. Cassie appreciates that “[h]e was the only white man I had ever heard address Mama and Big Ma as “Missus” (107). Mr. Jamison serves as a foil to Mr. Granger. He contextualizes Granger’s racist attitudes, explaining the landowner’s history of Southern gentility for both the Logan children and readers. The novel does not require a white savior figure, but Mr. Jamison’s inclusion creates hope that more white characters will renounce racist practices.