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Mildred D. Taylor Setting Analysis

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Mildred D. Taylor chose Mississippi as the backdrop for her novel for two main reasons. Firstly, it is a Southern state of the United States which made it possible for racial segregation to be so extreme. Also, since 1933 was the period after the Great Depression, it made the black sharecroppers’ poor financial state very realistic as the people in the South were struggling to make ends meet. This allows the blacks to be portrayed as victims of racism as well as poverty.

As a Southern state of the US, Mississippi passed Jim Crow laws which discriminated against black people and brought about racial segregation. This would tie in with the novel’s theme of racial discrimination and provide a backdrop for incidents that show the unfair treatment …show more content…

The bus driver’s audacity to accelerate upon seeing them shows his utter disregard for the lives of the blacks. Racial prejudice against the black children is seen as the white children laugh at them, completely unable to sympathise with their plight. Moreover, the incident of the Berrys’ burning also illustrates the effects of racial discrimination on the blacks. They are victimised simply because the whites see them as trying to change the status quo. Just because John Henry Berry ‘had a nice little place up there’ at Smellings Creek, which the Whites deemed as unacceptable because they felt he should be in the same financial state as the rest of the black sharecroppers. They justify his burning with the excuse that he allegedly flirted with a white woman. Although this is only hearsay, they still go ahead with attacking him without sufficient evidence of his wrongdoings. The fact that they not only burnt him but his uncle and Beacon as well, who were completely innocent, show that even if their accusation was correct, this was clearly not justice but more of a situation of racial prejudice. This shows the Whites have the liberty to go around freely burning black people …show more content…

Also, the fact that it was set in the period right after the Great Depression made the black sharecroppers’ plight more pitiful as they have to deal with racism as well as financial issues. This makes it easier for the readers to sympathise with the black people and would allow the story to leave a greater impact on the

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