""Baby, you had to grow up a little today. I wish...well, no matter what I wish. It happened and you have to accept the fact that in the world outside this house, things are not always as we would have them to be."" This quote is from the book Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, the selection for this weeks class and was stated by Mama Logan to her daughter Cassie. These words resonate with readers like myself, African Americans, who as young children were themselves little Cassie's. Children who innocently questioned the status quo, often recognizing the wrongness of it, and suffered the consequences. These words reminded me of the words my own father shared with me as a young girl first suffering the humiliation of being referred to as a "nigger". My father told me, rather matter of factly, that I was no better than anyone else, certainly no worse, but equally as good. He explained that sometimes people fear what they don't understand and can't control. He explained that people behave the way they do because they feel powerless, and that sometimes all they know how to do well -is hate. My dad explained to an eight-year-old, third grade student, that 'outside our home' was a harsh world, that cared very little about a young girl's feelings or innocence.
That is why novels such as Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, have an important and proper place in Children's literature. While the novel is realistic fiction, it could easily be non-fiction. These stories are real and passed down in the oral tradition. I heard similar stories from my grandparents after my own experience with racism. My grandfather James was born in 1902 and my grandmother Julia in 1914, so you can imagine the struggles they had raising their nine children in the backwoods of South Carolina during the great depression era the book is set in, on their own ten acres I might add. I'll not digress to much, but I think it necessary to say, for many, land ownership affords people a sense of pride and satisfaction they might not have otherwise experienced. That was true of my family and certainly true of the Logan family in the the novel Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. I get that, and understand why it was hard for Cassie's character to not know her place. She was equally as good as her white counterparts.
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, is classic literature and succeeds on many levels to impart historical knowledge in an engaging narrative. It should be required reading.
Essential reading, certainly. And not just for the intended African-American audience, but for white children as well. The racism Roll of Thunder describes is due to, at least from my perspective, a lack of communication between the two races and a lack of understanding. Perhaps a reluctance to? Either way, this would help create that understanding and could help start dialog that would undo prejudice.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the intention of Taylor was for this book to reach out and impact a wide and diverse audience, and the intention of the society that honored this book with the Newbery medal, was to make it part of a required canon of reading for pre-adolescents. This is the age at which children begin to develop awareness of the world around them--social studies has entered the school curriculum, and many parents begin to discuss difficult subjects like sex and violence with their children at this age. Awareness comes to Cassie through a first-hand account, which makes it almost like the reader is experiencing it firsthand too.
ReplyDeleteI think the quote you chose is one of the most central of the book--"you had to grow up a little today." This moment between Cassie and Mama reflects the nature of the book as a very powerful bildungsroman.
I really like the parallels you made between your personal experiences and this novel. Part of what I loved about this story, was this raw honest portray of life during the Great Depression. Despite the category of children's Literature, Mildred D. Taylor roughly transitions Cassie naive perspective to clarity. Her family, despite facing discrimination and poverty, proudly emphasize education, hoping to provide Cassie with an adequate childhood.
ReplyDeleteI understand where you are coming from by acknowledging that this book is age appropriate for ten year olds. I feel that every child, especially children that will go through adversity because of their skin color, should read this before they hit puberty. I do also feel that this book should be a book that children who bullied can relate to because like you said, people who crave power will seek it through hatred by demeaning others. I also feel that your father taught you a very powerful truth at a reasonable age, which is exactly what this book is doing.
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