For The Dignity Of Existence--A Study Of The Theme In Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Mildred Delois Taylor, an African-American writer of children'sfiction, is known for her Logan family saga. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cryis her masterpiece and is now considered children's classic. It has beenhighly praised and received 13 awards since it was published in 1976. In Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, the nine-year-old black girl CassieLogan recounts a year's worth of incidents that affect the Logans and theirsmall community in the countryside of Mississippi since the summer of1933 to the fall of 1934. The Logans fight against the economic depressionand racism to protect their land and dignity. Taylor's fictions are based on her personal experience, her familystories and her intention of revealing the truthfulness of African-Americanhistory. Her works reflect her feeling, thinking, and fighting againstAmerican racism. In her fictions, Taylor explores the history of the blackpeople, praises her ethnic group and culture and corrects themisrepresented history and image of African-Americans. Taylor's Loganfamily saga has an important position in America multicultural young adultliterature, but there is no particular critic article about her works in Chinanow. My thesis explores Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry fromhistorical-biographical approach, especially the major theme of this fiction— African-Americans' struggle for the dignity of existence in raciallysegregated America. The contents of the paper are laid out as follows: Introduction This part presents a brief introduction of Mildred D. Taylor and herworks, the plot of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry and its position inChildren Literature. The major concern of this paper is in this part—thetheme of African-Americans' struggle for the dignity of existence isstudied from the historical-biographical approach. Part One: The Predicament of Dignity for African-Americans vThis part presents the predicament of dignity experienced by theLogans in the book, by the author Taylor and her family, and by theAfrican-Americans in the history of once racially segregated America. Part Two: The Struggle for Dignity The self-respect and the spirit of perseverance of the Taylor familyand their storytelling tradition have paved the way for Mildred Taylor tocreate black images as the Logans who struggle to live with dignity in herworks. In the history of America, the black people have never ceased thestruggle for the dignity of existence. Part Three: Land, the Base of Survival; Family, the Root ofSelf-respect This part probes into the importance of land and family to the blackswho want to live with dignity. The Logans' struggle to preserve the land isto preserve their survival, independence and dignity. Taylor has deepattachment to the land. Her stress on the importance of land has itshistorical and political reasons. The love, close-knit Logan family is theroot of self-respect spirit of the family members and is also the portrayal ofthe Taylor family. Taylor wants to correct the misrepresentation of blackfamilies in some history books and the media. Conclusion Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry reflects Taylor's experience, her familyhistory as well as its spiritual tradition, and reveals a true picture ofAfrican-American history to the reader. Its major theme of the blackpeople's struggle for dignity of existence has educational function to thechildren of all colors.