Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Explanatory Essay by Stephanie Lathrop As Nelson Mandela once said, “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” When a person is born, they do not hate others. It’s some people within society that teach them to behave in a hateful manner. This sometimes happens because of race. In the book, Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry, racism is an important theme. In addition, the author Mildred D. Taylor develops themes that impact me by using character mistakes, which led to character growth, and emotional character …show more content…
One of these themes is we should treat everyone the same no matter their race. In chapter 1, Little Man received a book at school, which was in poor condition. He noticed that the race of the students who had used the books was listed inside the cover. He also noticed that white students always received the book when it was in excellent or good condition. When the book was in poor or very bad conditions, it went to the “nigra” (black) student. He recognized the racism and this made him really sad. Mildred Taylor illustrated him as an emotional character, at this moment. It is very unusual for a first grader to notice this and point this out to the teacher and the class. He even stomped on the book! Even his older sister Cassie pointed this out to the teacher too saying, “See Miz Croker, see what it says. They give us these ole book when they didn’t want ‘em no more.” First of all, I believe that every student no matter the race should have the right equipment and tools to receive the best education. Also, I believe everyone should be treated equally in every aspect of life. For example, my group of friends includes girls of all races. I would never discriminate against their color of skin; I look for the personality and what is in a person’s