Setting

The setting of Roll of Thunder is critical to understandng the novel. It takes place in 1933 in rural Mississippi, and right in the first scene the children are discussing a burning of some black people by some white brothers. Thus the location of the event and the time period both fit with the mood of fear that pervades white/black relations.

At a more detailed level, the individual settings that characters find themselves in determine the level of racism. It is also important to note that on the way to school the Logan children talk with a white boy, Jeremy. This is important because it shows that the racism in the novel is an adult construct, as is the segregation - the children mingle freely and naturally when they on the road together - but are unnaturally separated in segregated schoolhouses.

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