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 allegory Roll of Thunder is based around racism and discrimination,during the 1930s. Mildred Taylor has chosen to set her novel in atime where black people were discriminated against. The context inwhich the drool is set is a conscious choice of the writer toemphasise the finis of racism. T.J. is used by Mildred Taylor torepresent the injustices the Black community were subjected to inthese times. Although T.J. is non portrayed as a victim throughout thenovel, he is for certain seen as a victim during the concluding chaptersof the book.The narrative is by a young girl of ten years, Cassie. Cassie is avery printingated, knock-down(prenominal) willed character who tends to judge people atface value, without taking new(prenominal) factors into consideration. Thiscould be seen as a hindrance in such a novel, a novel that is beingused to exploit racism and could win from a more open- look onednarrator. In this book however, the character is purposefully make tobe single-minded by Mildred Taylor because it encourages the indorser to work out in more depth intimately the story.The author uses this narrow perspective of T.J. to encourage thereader to construct that he is a victim of the times. This realisationis encouraged not through Cassies opinion but because she cannot seethis fact until nearing the end of the story. Cassies view of T.J. isblunt, I didnt like T.J. very much, and during the beginning of thebook the reader is persuaded that T.J. is not a nice person as thereis no evidence otherwise. As the book proceeds however, the reader canshow more brainwave into details that Cassie overlooks. This is as thewriter intends, it helps to include the reader more in the book and isa similar idea to dramatic mockery used on the stage. Mildred Taylor hasused Cassies simplistic views of T.J. to persuade the reader to thinkmore deeply. She has used this simple point of view to sho w that the rig of racism is not always obvious and as the reader comes torealise that T.J. is a victim, Taylors 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 opinionof him. Stacey is often used in this way he is one of the a few(prenominal)characters that show sympathy towards T.J. Stacey demonstrates acertain level of understanding about T.J.s position and why he is howhe is.