To What Extent Does Mildred Taylor Portray T.J. as a Victim of the Times? :: English Literature

To What Extent Does Mildred Taylor Portray T.J. as a Victim of the Times? The novel 'Roll of Thunder' is based around racism and discrimination, during the 1930's. Mildred Taylor has chosen to set her novel in a time where black people were discriminated against. The context in which the story is set is a conscious choice of the writer to emphasise the extent of racism. T.J. is used by Mildred Taylor to represent the injustices the Black community were subjected to in these times. Although T.J. is not portrayed as a victim throughout the novel, he is certainly seen as a victim during the concluding chapters of the book. The narrative is by a young girl of ten years, Cassie. Cassie is a very opinionated, strong willed character who tends to judge people at face value, without taking other factors into consideration. This could be seen as a hindrance in such a novel, a novel that is being used to exploit racism and could benefit from a more open-viewed narrator. In this book however, the character is purposefully made to be single-minded by Mildred Taylor because it encourages the reader to think in more depth about the story. The author uses this narrow perspective of T.J. to encourage the reader to realise that he is a victim of the times. This realisation is encouraged not through Cassie's opinion but because she cannot see this fact until nearing the end of the story. Cassie's view of T.J. is blunt, 'I didn't like T.J. very much,' and during the beginning of the book the reader is persuaded that T.J. is not a nice person as there is no evidence otherwise. As the book proceeds however, the reader can show more insight into details that Cassie overlooks. This is as the writer intends, it helps to include the reader more in the book and is a similar idea to dramatic irony used on the stage. Mildred Taylor has used Cassie's simplistic views of T.J. to persuade the reader to think more deeply. She has used this simple point of view to show that the effect of racism is not always obvious and as the reader comes to realise that T.J. is a victim, Taylor's central theme is portrayed. To help the reader understand that T.J. is a victim of the times, Mildred Taylor uses other characters to show a more balanced opinion of him. Stacey is often used in this way; he is one of the few characters that show sympathy towards T.J. Stacey demonstrates a certain level of understanding about T.J.'s position and why he is how he is.