In the book Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry the Logans own their own land. Mr. Granger wants the land because it had been in his family generations before, but the Logans do not want to sell it. Their land is the families and they are proud to be land owners.
T.J., a boy who lives in the community, gets into trouble by trying to assist the Simmses break into a store. They had a pistol. T.J. realizes too late that the situation is very serious. T.J. has a loaded gun placed into his hands. Mr. Barnett gets up and catches Melvin and R.W. Melvin and Mr. Barnett fight and R.W. knocks him in the head with the flat side of an axe.
Mrs. Barnett sees what happened and runs towards the boys fighting. R.W. slaps her into a stove and she falls unconscious. T.J. escapes but he is scared and turns to Stacey for help.
The town's people, including Mr. Wallace, catch T.J. and start beating him up. They want to hang the three boys. Papa Logan has to think quickly to save him. He doesn't want to use violence because it would escalate things.
Papa knows Mr. Granger can stop them. In order to save the boys Pap starts a fire and burns up his cotton crop. People believe that it started because of lightening. Without the crop, the land will fall to Granger. People rush to help because they know it will become Granger's land. Granger sends them to protect the land.
In the end T.J. could still hang because Jim Barnett has died. He could end up on a chain gang. The Logans have lost their land. The ending is devastating, but Papa's actions were impressive. He did what he could to save the life of a child who was not his and who had been in and out of trouble. He had made a great sacrifice.
I cried for T.J. For T.J. and the land. (276)
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