Roll Of Thunder Hear My Cry Essay

In the book Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor Racial prejudice and discrimination have a big effect on the plot. In 1933 Mississippi, the setting of this book, black people were still treated very unfairly. Racial prejudice and discrimination are shown throughout the book with Little Man and the school books, Cassie in Strawberry, and lastly T.J. and his crimes.
In the first two chapters of the book Little Man is already in trouble, but it is not his fault. On the first day of school they all get new textbooks, but the problem is that they have been passed down through the white schools. On page 25 is has a chart that says that that book has been handled by 12 others from the white schools. Little Man gets very discouraged by the words that they used to describe blacks, and throws a fit. In this area of the book Racial prejudice and discrimination are how the blacks get the oldest, and in the worst condition books in the county instead of new books. Later Mama covers up that page, and she gets fired for damaging property by the Wallaces and Harlan Granger.

In this part of the book Cassie has not yet been exposed to all of the racial prejudice and discrimination in the country. She gets in trouble when she bumps into Lillian Jean on the sidewalk. Lillian Jean demanded an apology from Cassie. On page 113 Lillian Jean demands Cassie to” go down into the road.” She continues to say “you can’t watch where you going, get in the road. Maybe that way you won’t be bumping into decent white folks with your little nasty self.” In this part Lillian Jean considers herself to be much more important; although, many in that time period did, and it is not right. Lastly Mr. Simms gets involved and pushes Cassie to the ground demanding an