Review the events of the novel and write about what Cassie learned and how she changed.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is a coming of age story for Cassie, as she realizes the extent of racism in the South over the course of her tenth year. At the same time, Cassie learns the importance of love, family, and self-respect. For Cassie, it is through personal humiliation during an incident in Strawberry that she must learn that life is not fair; through the pain of watching TJ's destruction she learns that even the smallest offense by even the youngest black person can bring about irrevocable punishment; from her parents worries about losing the land she learns that nothing is truly secure. Stacey, like Cassie, must learn from similar experiences. But for both, these realizations are significant only in that they spark newly mature reactions of responsibility, love, and caring. To respond in a more foolish manner, as TJ did, would be to seek to be treated as a man while acting like a boy and therefore be unfairly meted the punishment of a man.