The best fiction writers use carefully chosen and precisely described details to give readers a “feel” for what a story’s characters will experience because of where and when they live.
Consider how things are in Cassie’s world. The classrooms at the Jefferson Davis School, which is attended by the white students in the area, would be similar to the one pictured. The classrooms at Cassie’s school would be much smaller and more poorly-equipped.
Question
How does this aspect of the story’s setting affect Cassie and her family?
Dig through Chapter 1 for textual evidence that helps establish what life was like for Cassie and her brother on the first day of school in the 1930s. Locate your file containing this module’s journal assignment, paste the prompt below at the end of the document, and label the entry with this lesson’s title. Then type a response to the prompt.
Journal
List at least six important details from the first chapter of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry that help readers understand the realities of life for African American children living when and where the novel is set. For each detail, explain how that aspect of life affects Cassie and other black children in her community.
When you have written a complete and detailed answer to the journal prompt, save the file so that you can open it again for the next lesson with a journal assignment. (You will submit your journal to your teacher for grading once or twice during the module.)
