Roll Of Thunder Hear My Cry Character Analysis

People change every day, hour, minute, and even second. You aren’t the same person now that you were a second ago. Changes in character occur all the time throughout real life and in literature. T.J. Avery from Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is no exception. His actions only cause him grief, and they don’t change him, but the events that he and many other African-Americans in the 1930s have to go through definitely make him the most interesting character.
In Chapter 4 of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, T.J. writes himself cheat notes. Stacey finds them and tears them up because he wants to help T.J. learn his lesson and make sure he doesn’t get in trouble. T.J. ignores his friend’s advice and decides to cheat anyway. Little Willie witnesses this and explains how, “T.J. was

in them woods busy writing himself another set. Me and Moe seen him” (p. 81). Stacey gets faulted by Mrs. Logan because of T.J.’s willingness to cheat, and Stacey decides to settle the score. After school that day, T.J. flees to the Wallace store, and Stacey and his siblings follow him there. Just when T.J. is sure he’s gotten away with it, they end up beating each other up. Surely he hasn’t learned anything from this because later in the book he cheats again.
In Chapter 8, when T.J. cheats once again, he accidentally rats out Mrs. Logan to Kaleb Wallace. This gets her fired, which also fires up Stacey. Stacey interrogates him, and he denies that he did it, but eventually spills the beans. Stacey says,”Didja tell it? You tell them Wallaces ‘bout Mama?” and T.J. replies, “Me? Why, man, you oughta know me better’n that” (p. 190). Later, on the next page he says, “Hey, look, y’all, I don’t know how come Miz Logan got fired, but I ain’t said nothin’ to make nobody fire her. All I said was that she failed me again. A fellow got a right to be mad ‘bout somethin’ like that, ain’t he?”(p. 191) He admits to what he denies within two pages, and that shows how hypocritical he is at the time.
In Chapter 11 when T.J.

shows up at the Logan house, he explains to them the trouble that he’s in, and he almost seems humbled by it. After R.W. and Melvin beat him up, he explains to them, “I think something’s busted. I hurt something awful” (p. 245). While R.W. and Melvin hurt him physically, they also hurt him in other ways, too. Their actions forced him to fear them and by asserting their authority, they brought out a side of him that no one else thought he had. He begs for help, but doesn’t want to burden others with his problems and dreads telling the Logans what happened because of R.W. and Melvin. T.J. says, “Help me, Stacey. Help me get home . . . I can’t make it by myself,’’ (p. 245). For the last few chapters of the book, he is living completely in fear of what’s going to happen next, and he finally learns his lesson.
T.J., from Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, evolves very slowly through the book, but because of the way he is shaped by what he inflicts upon himself, it makes him one of the most interesting characters. His evolution, as well as his bad decisions, drive the story in many ways. Just remember, your life is a story waiting to happen, so choose to drive it somewhere

great.