Roll Of Thunder Hear My Best Friend Quotes

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For everyone in the early thirties living in Mississippi, life is hard, especially when you are an African American. Working all day after school is no easy feat, and having a trouble making “friend” doesn’t help at all. In Mildred D. Taylor’s historical fiction novel Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry T.J. Avery is your best friend. You should not be friends with T.J. Avery because he has betrayed you, he is defiant, and he is manipulative. First of all, T.J. betrayed you. During the history exam when T.J. pulled out the second copy of cheat notes, you “motioned T.J to put ‘em away,” (Taylor 81). To your dismay, T.J slipped you the notes only after T.J. saw “Miz Logan startin’ toward ‘em” (Taylor 81). This gave you no time to hide the notes, and you got whipped for it. As you can remember, T.J. said not a word when you were getting whipped. This won’t be the last time this occurs, and to avoid getting hurt and blamed for T.J.’s actions, you must abstain from your friendship with him. …show more content…

because he is a bad influence. On multiple occasions during Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, T.J. has influenced you or someone else to disobey a direct order or follow his lead. For instance, when Big Ma took you, Cassie, and T.J. up to Strawberry, T.J. left the wagon after Big Ma told all of you to “‘...wait here for me...’” (Taylor 106 - 107). He managed convinced you and Cassie to go with him to the mercantile. T.J. influenced you to disobey an order, and Cassie paid the price by being humiliated by Lillian Jean and her father. The more you hang out with T.J., the more you are influenced by him, and that is another reason why you should not be friends with T.J.