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Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

by Mildred D. Taylor

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Student Question

In Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry, did Cassie take revenge on Lillian Jean or was it a dream?

Quick answer:

Cassie did take revenge on Lillian Jean in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. After Lillian Jean ordered Cassie off the sidewalk and her father pushed Cassie, Cassie devised a plan for retribution. She discussed the risks with her father, who warned her about the dangers of confronting white people in the 1930s Mississippi, where racial conflicts often ended tragically for black individuals due to systemic racism and violence.

Expert Answers

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Cassie did indeed carry out her revenge against Lillian Jean, revenge she began contemplating shortly after the incident in Strawberry when Lillian Jean ordered her off the sidewalk, and Lillian Jean's father shoved Cassie off the sidewalk himself when Cassie refused.  Although she didn't mention specifically her plans for Lillian Jean, Cassie had discussed the situation with the Simms family with Papa, and he had made it very clear to her that if she wasn't careful, the situation could become dangerous.  In Mississippi in the 1930's, any conflict between a black person and a white person would surely be decided in the white person's favor, and could end tragically for the black person, as seen in the unpunished lynchings, murders, and general terrorizing of blacks that was permitted in the South in the years after the Civil War.

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