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Land represents independence, family, and community in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. The land represents the Logans’ independence from the power structure around them, since by working their own plot of land the Logans are free, in both the sense they have no master and can shop where they like. However, the Logans must still exercise their freedom carefully, since the society at large is still grossly unequal and biased against them. For the Logans, the land is also intrinsically linked to family. Cassie says that it doesn't matter whose name the deed is in because it will always be "Logan land." However, when Papa knows he might be able to save T.J.’s life by sacrificing the land, he does so, setting it on fire. In this case, he sacrifices the land to protect his community and family.
Land Quotes in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
The Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry quotes below all refer to the symbol of Land. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 1
Quotes
Once our land had been Granger land too, but the Grangers had sold it during Reconstruction to a Yankee for tax money. In 1887, when the land was up for sell again, Grandpa had bought two hundred acres of it, and in 1918, after the first two hundred acres had been paid off, he had bought another two hundred…But there was a mortgage on the two hundred acres bought in 1918 and there were taxes on the full four hundred, and for the past three years there had not been enough money from the cotton to pay both and live on too.
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I asked him once why he had to go away, why the land was so important. He took my hand and said in his quiet way: “Look out there, Cassie girl. All that belongs to you. You ain’t never had to live on nobody’s place but your own and long as I live and the family survives, you’ll never have to. That’s important. You may not understand that now, but one day you will. Then you’ll see.”
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Chapter 4
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“…Y’all got it better’n most the folks ‘round here ‘cause y’all gots your own place and y’all ain’t gotta cowtail to a lot of this stuff. But you gotta understand it ain’t easy for sharecroppin’ folks to do what you askin’.”
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Chapter 12
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What had happened to T.J. in the night I did not understand, but I knew that it would not pass. And I cried for those things which had happened in the night and would not pass.
I cried for T.J. For T.J. and the land.
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Land Symbol Timeline in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
The timeline below shows where the symbol Land appears in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
A long time ago, Cassie’s grandfather purchased 400 acres of land from Harlan Granger’s family, which allows the Logan family to make some extra money from...
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Chapter 4
...driveway. Big Ma says that Mr. Granger is trying to get some of the Logan land back again. Big Ma walks to the forest across the road, and Cassie follows her...
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...as a carpenter in Vicksburg, where he met Big Ma. He bought 200 acres of land from Mr. Hollenbeck, who had bought most of the Granger land after Reconstruction. The Grangers...
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...alive: Cassie’s dad and her Uncle Hammer. Big Ma says that she’ll never sell the land to Harlan Granger, no matter how much he bothers her.
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...the sharecropping families to shop anywhere else, since they don’t have any cash, and the landowners sign for them to let them shop at the Wallaces on credit. The Logans are...
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Chapter 7
...Big Ma agree that there’s no way the Logans can back their credit with their land—it would surely result in the Logans losing the land. Uncle Hammer wants to burn the...
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...over some papers. She overhears Mr. Jamison say that once the papers are signed, the land will belong to Uncle Hammer and Papa instead of Big Ma, and anything that happens...
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...who want to shop there. Mr. Jamison tells them that they will surely lose the land if they try to back the sharecropping families’ credit with it, and he offers to...
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...Granger urges them to stop the boycott, threatening that he can make them lose their land if they don’t stop disturbing the peace. Papa says that they haven’t lost their land...
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Chapter 9
...and the Wallaces, but the family needs his income. Two black sharecroppers on Mr. Granger’s land, Mr. Lanier and Mr. Avery, arrive at the Logans’ house during this conversation and say...
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Chapter 11
...and there, but the sheriff says that Harlan Granger doesn’t want anybody hanged on his land. The Wallaces respond that they’ll do the hanging on the road, and they suggest that...
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Chapter 12
Soon, Big Ma, Mama, Cassie and her brothers smell fire. The land and the cotton are burning, and Big Ma and Mama assume that the lightning started...
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...black men working side by side, trying to put out the fire to save the land. When the Logan women return home, Mama tells the children what happened. When the fire...
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...he’ll never get to run free again like they will, and she cries for the land.
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