49 pages • 1 hour read
Mildred D. TaylorA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
After the tragedy of TJ’s conviction, the winter proves quiet and rolls into spring, which is planting season. School is about to break in March, so that the children can help their parents put in the cotton crop. One day at school, Cassie and Stacey have a conversation with a sharecropper’s son named Moe Turner. He has high hopes of making enough money to free himself from dependency on the plantation system, where sharecroppers end up owing more to the landowners than they earn for themselves. The Turners farm for a rich white plantation owner named Mr. Montier.
At home one evening, the Logans are visited by the county extension agent, John Farnsworth. He wants David to sign up for the government’s crop reduction program. The Logans will be paid not to grow cotton because the federal government hopes to stabilize the plummeting price of cotton during the Great Depression. In the previous year, plantation owner Harlan Granger falsely claimed that he had a lien on the Logan property, and the government reimbursement check was signed over to him, leaving the Logans with no compensation for their diminished crop. Even though Farnsworth protests that this won’t happen again, David resists signing up. Shortly after the county agent leaves, Mr. Granger drives up in his Packard. Cassie says:
Of the four major landowners in the area—the others were the Montiers, the Harrisons, and the Walkers—Harlan Granger had the largest holdings and was the most powerful. He was accustomed to getting what he wanted when he wanted it, and one thing he had long wanted but had not gotten was our land (97-98).
Granger approaches David to discuss rumors of a farm union organizer in the area and warns the family away from participating. Granger also talks about the exorbitant new cotton tax. He offers to pay the tax for the Logans, but David politely declines. After Granger leaves, he tells the children that taking the planter’s offer is just another way to put them into Granger’s debt.
Granger and the other owners have figured out how to capitalize on the government incentive programs by pocketing the money that should go to their sharecroppers. David says, “Harlan Granger and the rest take the government money and just put a lotta folks off the land to cut back on the number of their acres planted. [...] Then come picking time, they use day laborers” (103-04).
At school the next day, Cassie answers the teacher’s question about the new senator, Bilbo. Cassie repeats what she’s heard about the man. He is rumored to be a “rascal” and a “devil.” The teacher immediately silences Cassie and speaks to her after class. The teacher is fearful of losing her position if the students mention such unflattering comments about the state’s leadership. When she goes outside to eat lunch, Cassie notices two rich white boys, Joe Billy Montier and Stuart Walker. They slow their vehicle to have a chat with two Black 10th-grade girls. The teacher intercepts the conversation before the girls reach the car.
Later, Cassie gets summoned to help a neighbor named Mrs. Lee Annie. The old woman wants to read the state constitution even though she would never be bold enough to try to vote since others have been lynched for doing so. Lee Annie lives with her grandson, Wordell. The latter has a reputation for being “odd” because he hardly ever speaks, but Lee Annie assures Cassie that the boy is quite intelligent, though generally silent.
When Cassie asks David’s permission to read to Lee Annie, he says that she must take her younger brothers with her. Cassie speculates that Wordell’s odd behavior might be the reason her father thinks she needs protection. The next day, after the reading session, Cassie goes in search of her brothers in the woods and finds Wordell instead. She starts talking to him, but it remains a one-sided conversation. Finally, he says a few words to tell her where her brothers are and then leaves.
One morning, as the four Logan children walk to school, they are met by Jeremy Simms. He tells them that his whole family made a trip to Jackson, Mississippi, to avoid gossip about the elder two Simms boys being involved in the hardware store robbery and murder. Even though TJ was executed for the crime, some white people are now suspicious of the Simms family. Jeremy has just returned with his mother, and he proudly presents Cassie and Stacey with photos of him taken in Jackson. The Black children are uncomfortable with the gift but accept it.
Stacey glanced over at him, then back at the road as we started walking again. He had never quite known what to think about this strange white boy who had offered his friendship even when we had not wanted it and had defied his family to be our friend (125-26).
During the following week, the Logan house is overflowing with students from sharecropper and day laborer families. Mary was once a schoolteacher, but her political activism got her fired. Now, she tutors children so they can pass the school’s final exams for the season. The children are in awe of the spacious Logan home, which is so much nicer than their tar-paper shacks. Cassie realizes how lucky her family is to own 400 acres and a fine house.
One afternoon, two visitors arrive to call on David. One is a white union organizer named Morris Wheeler, and the other is a Black former sharecropper named John Moses. They are soliciting membership in an integrated farm workers’ union throughout the South. Wheeler reasons that there will be greater strength in numbers if Black and white farmers cooperate. David says he will consider joining and allowing his barn to be used for a meeting.
After the men leave, a shiny yellow car approaches the farmhouse. The driver is Hammer, David’s brother. He’s come back from Chicago for a visit and appears to be quite prosperous. Everyone is glad to see him, although the children remain in awe of their big city relative: “He was, as Big Ma described him, just a little wild, and was known throughout the community for his temper, something a Black man in Mississippi couldn’t afford to have” (141).
Later, David must go to the grist mill to make repairs, and Hammer offers the use of his new car. The children go along for the ride. On the way, they see Joe Billy and Stuart standing by the side of the road, chatting with Black teen Jacey Peters. Hammer confronts the teens and intimidates Jacey into hurrying home. Stuart is unhappy with Hammer: “‘Now how come you went and sent her away?’ Stuart called with an easy insolence. ‘We was just getting into some good conversation’” (145). When he makes an insulting remark about Jacey, Hammer lunges at him. Fortunately, David intervenes, and the boys drive off.
Afterward, Cassie asks Stacey why Hammer got so upset about a simple conversation. He tells his sister, “When a white boy’s ‘round a colored girl, they’s up to no good, that’s why. You jus’ remember that” (147). Cassie remains mystified by the comment.
On Sunday, the entire family drives to church in Hammer’s new car. This display excites the admiration of the entire congregation. A stranger named Jake Willis begins asking questions about Hammer’s prosperity, causing him to become hostile and suspicious. By the end of the church service, Willis is gone. Outside the church, Mary is accosted by her cousin, Bud Rankin, who has been living in New York for many years. Cassie says, “Cousin Bud was a handsome man with a winsome smile and a pleasant way about him. [...] The son of Mama’s oldest sister, Cousin Bud had grown up with Mama and had been like a brother to her” (158). The entire family welcomes him, and they return home to catch up on the news.
Bud married a woman named Lydia and has a daughter named Suzella, who is still in New York. He says that his wife has gone to visit her own family in the area, and he came to pick her up. He confesses that his wife is white, and the entire Logan clan is shocked. Hammer calls Bud a fool. The party breaks up afterward, and the children are sent to bed. The next morning, during their chores, the children ponder the problem, and Christopher-John speculates that Bud is in love. Stacey reacts violently to the suggestion. “Boy, you get that outa your head right now! Can’t love anybody white and don’t you never try! The man’s just a fool like Uncle Hammer said” (163).
After breakfast, Cassie remains in the kitchen as her mother and Bud continue discussing his marriage. Mary warns Bud that he can’t go to his wife’s white family and hope they will understand if he tries to persuade her to go back North with him. Bud says that his real concern is for Suzella. She can “pass” as white but is confused about her identity. She doesn’t believe she fits anywhere: “Suzella’s a colored girl because her daddy’s a colored man, and no matter how much she might wish she ain’t and I ain’t, we both stuck with what we are and I don’t want her wishing otherwise. I don’t want her passing!” (167). Bud asks if Suzella can stay with the Logans for a while to help her feel a sense of family. Mary consents if she can get David to agree.
On the way to school one morning, the children see two cars parked by the side of the road and hear the sound of somebody being beaten. One of the cars drives away. When they approach, they find Farnsworth, the county agent, bloody and unconscious. Knowing they can’t summon help without being implicated in the crime, the children run to the Simms’ farm to find Jeremy. He immediately returns and helps them load Farnsworth into his car. Then, Jeremy drives to the nearby Tate Sutton plantation. Positioning Farnsworth behind the wheel, the children stage the scene to appear as if the man collapsed in the car. Since he is slumped over the horn, the noise attracts the attention of the Suttons, who take him to the hospital.
That evening, the children are working on their school lessons at the table when Cassie accidentally drops Jeremy’s photo on the floor. Hammer walks by and scoops it up. When he sees the inscription to Cassie, he becomes very angry and gives her a stern lecture about associating with white boys, saying, “White men like that ain’t nothing but dogs far as I’m concerned, and I’d rather see Cassie dead than take up with one of ‘em” (175). He has some additional sarcastic remarks for Bud before throwing Jeremy’s picture into the fire and leaving.
This segment begins by focusing on the theme of The Struggle for Economic Independence. In the South, that independence is closely associated with growing cotton. School ends in March because all the children need to help their families in the fields. Their livelihood and even their survival depend upon a large crop. Unfortunately, their efforts to earn money are hampered by the toll the Great Depression has taken on the price of cotton. Well-meaning government policies are enacted to stimulate demand for cotton by reducing the amount each farmer grows. Although the farmers are meant to be paid for reducing their yield, the white planters rig the system to ensure that government checks go to them rather than to their tenants. Further, Granger lies to the government and claims to have a lien on the Logan farm. As the helpless county agent explains to David, “Well [...] he come after you signed and said he had a lien […] I had to put his name down” (96). A white planter’s word carries more weight than a Black landowner’s. As a result, the Logans struggle to survive with a reduced cotton crop.
Granger engineered this state of affairs to make the Logans financially dependent on him. On two separate occasions, he makes a friendly offer to loan them whatever money they need. Cassie seems mystified when her parents reject the offer. She and the reader are both being educated about the financial enslavement that planters orchestrate to keep the Black population dependent long after Emancipation. Ironically, the Logans are in a much better financial position than the sharecroppers or the day laborers. The former end up owing their landlords more at the end of each season than their crops are worth. The day laborers depend on the pay rate the planters set for their work.
This examination of financial dependence dovetails with the introduction of a second theme in this segment—The Importance of Unity. Even though the white and Black residents of the area maintain separate worlds, a union organizer has come to the region to propose an alliance of both groups of farm workers. Such a combination might give each group better bargaining power. The planters already understand the threat that unity represents and try to destroy such a coalition. Granger warns David about the supposed evils of unions, claiming they are Communist institutions. The planters have always maintained control through a divide-and-conquer strategy. As long as they can keep white and Black farm workers suspicious of each other, there is little chance of a union.
The deep divide between Black and white worlds is further illustrated when two relatives arrive at the Logan home, leading to incidents that foreground the theme of Maintaining Separate Worlds. David’s brother Hammer has a quick temper and actively dislikes any social or romantic connection between Black and white people. He breaks up a conversation between Stuart Walker and Jacey Peters, nearly coming to blows with the white boy for his insolence. Further, he destroys the photo that Jeremy gave to Cassie, assuming the worst about this innocent gesture of friendship. Hammer’s greatest disapproval is reserved for Mary’s cousin Bud, who has married a white woman. Hammer calls him a “fool” to his face, arousing Mary’s indignation at this insulting treatment of her relative.
While Cassie seems thoroughly confused by the fuss over fraternizing with white people, even her older brother Stacey agrees that Black and white people must never come together: “‘Maybe he loved her,’ suggested Christopher-John. Stacey whirled around. ‘Boy, you get that outa your head right now! Can’t love anybody white and don’t you never try! The man’s just a fool like Uncle Hammer said’” (163). While racial separation might be a way of maintaining the status quo, it prevents any forward momentum toward a better future. Even though David can see the point the union organizers are trying to make about the power of unity, the divide-and-conquer tactics of the planters have proven effective in quelling any interest in cooperation. Cassie notes, “There had been too many years of distrust, too many years of humiliations and beatings and lynchings and inequalities. They would wait, they decided, and see what happened” (186).
By Mildred D. Taylor
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