Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
My Aunt Teri gave me a copy of ‘Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry’ by Mildred D. Taylor years ago. I trusted her that it was an excellent book and worth reading but it never made it into the read pile. Well that changed this week and I read it – she was right it was excellent.
The story is told over a year through the eyes of Cassie (a 9 year old black girl in 1933 Mississippi). During the year her world changes as she discovers what her position in society is, or at least what the white folks who live nearby think it is, and why their opinion counts for so much. The warmth and love within her family gives an excellent grounding and allows for some truly horrific things to happen but because of Cassie’s faith in her family you always felt they would work out. Cassie’s protected perspective means the story came in bits of over-heard conversation or playground gossip so it takes a while for the whole picture to emerge and the consequences of actions to be revealed.
I think ‘I know why the cadge bird sings’ by Maya Angelou or ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’ by Harper Lee would be logical progressions. Another teen read might be ‘Yankee Girl’ by Mary Ann Rodman is about a slightly older black girl, in 1960s Mississippi where race is a still an issue.
On a closer to home front I went to see the play ‘The Bondagers’ by Sue Glover recently. Set on Scottish Borders Farms in the 19th Century the women bondagers were little better off than slaves. Hired at a market each year to work on the farms, they were dependent on the farmers. It has similar themes of powerlessness for main characters and their desire to protect each other is limited by the confines of their positions in society.