Roll Of Thunder Hear My Cry Character Analysis

People change every day, hour, minute, and even second. You aren’t the same person now that you were a second ago. Changes in character occur all the time throughout real life and in literature. T.J. Avery from Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is no exception. His actions only cause him grief, and they don’t change him, but the events that he and many other African-Americans in the 1930s have to go through definitely make him the most interesting character. In Chapter 4 of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, T.J. writes himself cheat notes. Stacey finds them and tears them up because he wants to help T.J. learn his lesson and make sure he doesn’t get in trouble. T.J. ignores his friend’s advice and decides to cheat anyway. Little Willie witnesses this and explains how, “T.J. was

shows up at the Logan house, he explains to them the trouble that he’s in, and he almost seems humbled by it. After R.W. and Melvin beat him up, he explains to them, “I think something’s busted. I hurt something awful” (p. 245). While R.W. and Melvin hurt him physically, they also hurt him in other ways, too. Their actions forced him to fear them and by asserting their authority, they brought out a side of him that no one else thought he had. He begs for help, but doesn’t want to burden others with his problems and dreads telling the Logans what happened because of R.W. and Melvin. T.J. says, “Help me, Stacey. Help me get home . . . I can’t make it by myself,’’ (p. 245). For the last few chapters of the book, he is living completely in fear of what’s going to happen next, and he finally learns his lesson. T.J., from Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, evolves very slowly through the book, but because of the way he is shaped by what he inflicts upon himself, it makes him one of the most interesting characters. His evolution, as well as his bad decisions, drive the story in many ways. Just remember, your life is a story waiting to happen, so choose to drive it somewhere