Because Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is a work of historical fiction, its author devotes many of its early pages to establishing the most important elements of its setting. Use the questions on the slides below to take a closer look at the details in Chapter 1—particularly the ones that contribute to your understanding of where and when the story’s events take place. As you answer each question, consider the mood created by those details.
Little Man carries a notebook wrapped in newspaper and a lunch box made from a tin can. His lunch is leftover cornbread and oil sausages. |
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These details suggest that the story happened a long time ago—long before students used three-ring binders, movie character lunch boxes, or store-bought lunch meat. They also suggest that African American children in this part of the country, during this time, were generally very poor. |
Neither boy wears shoes, and their “Sunday clothes” hang loosely and are tattered and patched. |
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Many sharecroppers could not afford to buy shoes or new clothes for their children. What little money they had was probably spent on food and farming equipment. |
Only the Jefferson Davis School for white students provides buses. |
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The term “segregation” is not used in Chapter 1, but details like this tell readers that Mississippi in the 1930s is most definitely segregated, with black students receiving far fewer resources than whites. |
The Mississippi state flag, which includes a symbol of the Confederacy in the upper left corner. |
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The fact that the Mississippi flag hangs above the American flag suggests that government officials in Cassie’s county felt the state of Mississippi to be more important—or better run—than the United States of America. And the fact that it included a Confederate symbol served as a reminder to African Americans than many citizens of Mississippi considered the Confederate cause a noble one. |
Cassie and her brothers had to walk an hour to get to school. |
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It emphasizes the unfairness of segregation. Some African American students had to leave for school several hours before it started and may not return home until after dark in the wintertime. Many of the children were barefoot and had to trudge through dirt, rain, mud, and even snow—just to start their school day. |
