Student Question
What major events in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry lead to T.J. and Stacey's friendship decline?
Quick answer:
The major events that lead to the decline of Stacey and T.J.'s friendship in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry are T.J.'s attempts to cheat on the test, Stacey taking the blame for T.J.'s cheating, the boys' fight, and T.J.'s role in getting Mrs. Logan fired from her teaching job.
In Mildred D. Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, T.J. tends to be an arrogant young man who is actually so insecure that he tries to be noticed and accepted by acting out. This attitude, however, threatens and eventually ruins the friendship between T.J. and Stacey.
T.J. and Stacey begin having some troubles in their friendship when the boys are approaching a major test. Since both boys are in Stacey's mother's class, T.J. thinks they can find the test questions ahead of time and cheat, but Stacey doesn't want to. T.J. also wants to go down to the Wallace store, but the Logan children have been forbidden to go there and with good reason. Stacey tells T.J. that, and T.J. asks if he is a “mama's boy.” Stacey responds to T.J. that the he can go if he wants, but the Logan siblings are staying away. A...
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while later, Stacey and the others catch T.J. snooping around in their mother's room, and T.J. gets defensive and tells Stacey that friends ought to trust each other. Stacey, however, is beginning not to trust T.J. at all, for he knows his “friend” is trying to find the test questions.
T.J. does cheat on the test. Stacey tries to prevent it by tearing up T.J.'s notes, but T.J. writes another set. During the test, Stacey catches T.J. with the notes, and T.J. slips them to Stacey just before Mrs. Logan walks up to the boys. Stacey gets caught with the notes, and his mother whips him for cheating, but he refuses to tell on T.J. After school, Stacey follows T.J. to the Wallace store and fights him. The boys' friendship is nearly over.
It is completely over, however, when T.J. shoots off his mouth at the Wallace store and tells all kinds of tales about how Mrs. Logan fails him and teaches things that are not in the approved curriculum. As a result, Mrs. Logan gets fired from her teaching job, and all of the Logan children fully break off their friendship with T.J.