Examine the way Mildred Essay Example for Free

Examine the way Mildred Essay He pointed in their direction with everybodys eyes following his finger. Taylor wants everything to become very sultry through this quote, Through the settling dusk three figures ambled with assurance across the wide lawn. R. W. and Melvin on either side of T. J. As they came closer Cassie could see that his clothes were different, they werent tatty like they were at the start of the book. Thanks to theft the clothes he wore were wealthier. T. J foolishly brags about the clothes that the brothers have bought him, Look see what they give me. Proudly he tugged at his suit coat. R. W. and Melvin are secretly mocking him, Melvin nodded, a condescending smirk on his face which was lost on T. J. Cassie can see that the brothers are mocking him but T. J. can not, stupidity is blinding him. He is very gullible. T. J. continued to boast about how he was R. W. and Melvins best friend, and they would get him anything he wanted. Anything including a pearl handled pistol. T. J. had wanted this for ages, he had shown it to Stacey and Cassie in the Barnetts Mercantile, the day they went up to Strawberry. On that day he had told Stacey and Cassie that he would, sell his life for that gun. He claimed that it would offer protection. Eventually his attraction to guns led to his undoing. R. W. demanded T. J. then to hurry up and enter the pickup truck so they could head down to Strawberry to retrieve his gun. Yet he didnt turn and leave immediately he stood on his own undecided for while. Cassie watched him, she felt sorry for him standing there looking, desolately alone. But in the end he turned his back on them and went with the two white brothers. This action is very final. Mildred Taylor now compels me to feel sorry for T. J. like Cassie did. I am made to think, how sad that he made the wrong decision. How sad that he didnt stay where he belonged. Later that night it became hot and all the Logans were at home asleep. Apart from Cassie who couldnt get to sleep, she was able to hear the distant thunder. As she was just about to drop off, she heard light tapping coming from outside and decided to creep out of bed to see what it was. She discovered that it was T. J. knocking on the boys bedroom door calling, Hey, Stacey, come on wake up will ya? Stacey opened door and both T.J. and Cassie slipped in. When T. J. speaks there is a lot of repetition and pausing used which creates much sadness. Help me Stacey. Help me get home I cant make it by myself. R. W. and Melvin had beaten up T. J. and as a result his stomach was becoming a deep blue-black. Stacey refused to take T. J. anywhere until he had told him why the brothers had done this to him. T. J had no choice but to tell Stacey and Cassie his story of the event. After he had left them at church himself, R. W. and Melvin had gone straight to Strawberry to retrieve the gun from the mercantile store but it was closed. This was when we learn about R. W and Melvins true motives for befriended T. J. They persuaded the young boy to squeeze through the window to let them in. With the window being so small in size only a small skinny boy like T. J. could have been able to fit through. To stop anyone from being able to identify the two brothers they cleverly covered their faces with dark stockings and their hands with gloves. So if someone were to see them they would have immediately assume that they were black. When the three boys were all inside the shop R. W. broke the glass which the gun was encased with an axe and handed it to T.J. R. W. and Melvin then went towards the wall cabinet where Mr. Barnett kept the money. R. W. had to hit the lock on that protected the cabinet a few times before it broke. Then right when Melvin had the metal tin filled with money in his hands Mr. Barnett and his wife appeared from upstairs with a flashlight. Mr. Barnett shone the flashlight at all three boys, he recognised T. J. but not his two black accomplishes. Once Mr. Barnett noticed that the cabinet had been broken into he entered into a rage and went for Melvin. They both struggled to obtain the metal box until R. W. hit Mr. Barnett over the head with the axe. Mrs. Barnett attempting to protect her husband flew at R. W. but didnt get far. He slapped her right across the face this made her stumble and hit her head. All three boys ran outside T. J. was so frightened foolishly that he threatened to tell everybody at home what happened. This is when R. W. and Melvin had beaten T. J. Fortunately T. J. managed to find someone who was filling to give him a lift back to the Logans. Cassie suspiciously questioned T. J. if he was telling the truth. T. J. was in such a desperate situation that he admitted to everything. I admit I lied bout tellin on your mamma, but I aint lyin now. We feel sympathy for T. J. he is seriously injured, his face his pale, his eyes glazed and coughs up blood. Hurt T. J. begs Stacey not to inform his Grandmother about it, for his family will only be dragged into the predicament. Stacey please! You my only friend aint never really had no true friend but you Look at how late it is before T. J. can see the truth. In the end Stacey, Cassie, Christopher-John and Little Man walked T. J. back home. Straight after T. J. had arrived home, the white men including R. W.and Melvin parked outside the Avery household. As soon as the white men had found out about the incident in Strawberry with Mr. Barnett they were ready to cause havoc. They started to pound the Averys door with their rifles screaming abuse, We want that thieving, murdering nigger of yalls. When they saw that nobody was leaving the house R. W. broke a window at the side of the house so that several other men could enter. A few seconds later the front door was flung open as Mr. and Mrs. Avery were dragged out by their feet, the small girls thrown out of the window and the older girls spat upon. Then finally T. J was dragged out of the house on his knees, his face smeared with blood. Here Taylor forces us to picture the horror of the situation, mans inhumanity to man. Soon after this, headlights of two cars appeared one of vehicles stopped at Harlan Grangers home and the other at the Averys. Mr. Jamison a white lawyer jumped out of the car aiming to save the situation. He remained calm and told the men to hand T. J. over to him and the sheriff so they can take care of it. But the men refused to listen to reason and Mr. Jamison was warned off and accused of being a nigger lover. We must admire Mr. Jamison for having the courage to stand up to all those angry and violent men for what he believes is right. The sheriff is the introduced into the scene with a message from Harlan Granger. The sheriff quotes, He say yall touch one hair on that boys head while he on this land, hes gonna hold every man here responsible. The white men did not take the news well until Mr. Kaleb had the idea to take the boy somewhere else and hang him. He also refers to Mr. Morrison as, that big black giant of a nigger so that they can hang him also. Someone then refers to Mr. Logan as, the boy he working for thinking that the white men might as well hang him too. By speaking of Mr. Logan in such a tone that he calls him boy displays total lack of respect. The Wallaces clearly think that they are above the law that they believe they can go against the sheriffs word. Also because of the incident with T. J. the Wallaces now had the opportunity to gain revenge on the Logans. The Logans stood didnt approve of how the Wallaces treated the black people. Therefore stood up for what they believed in and took trade away from the Wallace store and shopped in Vicksburg, with the support of Mr. Jamison. All the while Stacey, Cassie, Christopher-John and Little Man had never left the scene they sat quietly behind a bush and watched. But when they heard Mr. Morrison and their fathers name mentioned Stacey sent his three younger three siblings along home to warn his parents. Cassie protested against Staceys request she was worried that her older brother would do something stupid in a desperate attempt to save T. J. She made him promise that he wouldnt do anything drastic before she eventually left him alone to inform her father of what was happening. T. J. does not deserve it but Stacey has a protective nature of man. It just demonstrates what type of man Stacey really is. On Cassies way back home with the boys Taylor describes the weather. Thunder crashed against the corners of the world and lightening split the sky. Again we are made to observe the parallel between the storm in nature and the storm between the black and white people. Most importantly we are made to notice that there is mention of thunder and lightening but none of rain. When the three children arrive home their parents are furious with worry and are about to whip the children for having the cheek just for leaving the house. However their intentions soon change after Cassie informs them of what is happening back at the Avery home. Mr. Logans first reaction to the news is to go down to the Avery home and do whatever he can to protect T. J. even if it resulted in him being hung himself. He trots straight to their bedroom to fetch his gun. The wisdom of Mrs. Logan tells her husband, Get Harlan Granger to stop it. She knows that all to do is persuade Harlan Granger to say the word and all of the men would stop. T. Js predicament brought out the best in the Logan family. Their need to protect one another, their need to show love and care for one another. Before Mr. Logan leaves to go and save T. J. there is more proof that the storm is ominous. A bolt of lightening splintering the night into a dazzling brilliance. As the bible says, Men love the darkness, so their evil can be committed. This is because night is a time of darkness, which symbolises evil. Light and brilliance symbolises good. A while after Mr. Morrison and Mr. Logan had left the two women and children were all sitting in the main room. When Mrs. Logan smelt smoke she rushed outside to find that the cotton fields were on fire. The Logans land and Grangers land was right next to each other so if there was fire on one patch it was most likely to spread to the other. So back the Avery home Mr. Jamison had jumped in his car and blocked off the road so that none of the men could get passed with T. J. When suddenly Mr. Granger came flying out of his house yelling, Theres smoke coming from my forest yonder! Give that boy to Wade like he wants and get on up there! Like Mrs. Logan had predicted all that was needed to save T. Js life was to have Mr. Granger say the word. That night both blacks and whites worked together side by side to save the land. Following the fire Mr. Jamison visited the Logan house to see Mr. Logan and warned him that he should keep out of the T. J. situation otherwise people will think he should lose more than a quarter of his land. Or somebody might just get to wondering about that fire. Here we are made to assume that it was Mr. Logan that set his own land on fire, in a sacrificial attempt to save T. J. Mr. Jamison. Also came with some bad news Mr. Barnett had died that morning this would mean that because T. J. was the only person identified, he would get accused of murder. If found guilty he would serve a death sentence. Stacey and Cassie were both devastated when their father told them this information. Stacey was extremely hurt by the news that he ran off into the woods. He knew that their wasnt any evidence at all to find T. J. innocent and he would ultimately die. The problem with T. J was he never thought before he acted, which had some serious consequences. Also he didnt have any common sense to see what was really going on around him, he became blind to the obvious. Finally I think T. J. was overall an attention seeker thats the reason why he done the things he did. He wasnt obtaining enough attention at home so he looked for it somewhere else. But unfortunately he looked in the wrong places and it ended him into to trouble, which ultimately ended him. N:\MyDocuments\RollofThunderHearmyCry. doc Ebonni Chabala 10R Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Mildred Taylor section.