Roll of Thunder

imes as it suggest the poem is an old Negro song which also which also fits in with the storyline and genre of the novel.Now, in the actual story on these tow pages of the novel, Taylor then goes on to build up the atmosphere and tension even more using a variety of methods. For example the very first line is 'The night whispered of distant thunder. Here, the personification of the night whispering suggests scenery and could perhaps be seen as a warning as it could get louder as the thunder come closer. The line, 'Twice I had awkward hoping it was time to be up, gives a sense of depression to the story too, as the hopes of the main character, Cassie, have been crushed. So, already the reader feels disturbed and anxious.Next, Taylor begins to describe the scene and setting of the chapter. From the first few line you can tell that it is a long night and throughout the opening pages, Taylor uses the repetition of words, such as 'darkness', and continually draws attention to the silence to create an eerie atmosphere. For instance the silence makes the other sounds of the night more sharp and interesting whereas the darkness again gives the reader a feeling of secrecy and blindness to what might be hiding in the shadows. The repetition of the darkness of the night ascertains this fact too and makes the reader sure that something is wrong and it is almost definitely a bad thing.Taylor creates tension in here description of the terrible weather too. She writes, 'It was muggy, hot and miserable' show general discomfort. The reference to distant thunder before relates to the title of the book as well as the poem in the beginning of chapter 11. Therefore this indicates that the key even in the story is about to happen. Only, what is it?Well, we obviously won't find that out until a lot later in the book so meanwhile we can visualize what happens in the build up to help us think and enjoy the story. Luckily, Taylor makes this easy for us in the opening pages through the...