Print
Word
PDF
|
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Chapter 11
A storm is coming. That night, Cassie wakes up and finds T.J. outside her door. T.J. tells her and Stacey, "I-I'm in trouble...I'm really in trouble." Chapter 11, pg. 244 He tells them that R.W. and Melvin beat him so badly he can't walk home alone. He explains that they beat him because he said he would tell people what happened that night. He finally tells Stacey what happened: he had broken into the shop to take the gun, but then the other boys had started breaking into many of the other cases, stealing things. When the shopowner appeared, R.W. hit him over the head, and he fell down, seeming dead. When the man's wife appeared, R.W. knocked her down too, and she also seemed dead. The boys had then beaten T.J. and abandoned him. T.J. begs Stacey to help him get home, and not to tell anyone. Stacey feels sorry for T.J. and decides to help him. Cassie and the two young boys will not let Stacey go by himself, so they all set out together in the middle of the night.
T.J. just slips into his house when a group of cars pulls up and white men come pouring out of them. One of the Wallaces yells, "We want that thieving, murdering nigger of y'all's." Chapter 11, pg. 251 The Logan children watch in horror as T.J.'s whole family, even the young children, are pulled from the house and beaten. R.W. and Melvin are there, and they have told the other men that they saw T.J. with two other black boys robbing the store. Suddenly Mr. Jamison pulls up in his car and says, "Y'all decide to hold court out here tonight?" Chapter 11, pg. 254 The white men threaten Mr. Jamison, but he tells them to wait for the sheriff. When the sheriff arrives, however, he implies only that since T.J.'s family lives on Granger land, and Granger has said he won't stand for lynching on his land, they will have to go somewhere else. Jamison tries to stop them, and Stacey urges Cassie and the two little boys to run home and get Papa.
