Let the Circle Be Unbroken by Mildred D. Taylor
"Let the Circle Be Unbroken," authored by Mildred D. Taylor, is a poignant fictional narrative that explores the challenges faced by a rural Mississippi black community during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The story is narrated by Cassie Logan, a nine-year-old girl, who provides insight into her family's struggles and the broader societal issues of racism and injustice. Central to the narrative is the unjust accusation and subsequent sentencing of T. J. Avery, a classmate of Cassie’s, which highlights the pervasive discrimination against black families within the legal system. The novel also delves into the lives of the Logan family, particularly focusing on the character of David Logan (Papa) and Mary Logan (Mama), who strive to instill values of resilience and dignity in their children amidst adverse conditions.
Through a series of interconnected episodes, the book illustrates the harsh realities of sharecropping, the quest for education, and the poignant moments of community bonds. The characters navigate complex themes of identity and social justice, with figures like Wade Jamison exemplifying the struggle for fairness in a racially biased society. Taylor's writing, rooted in her family’s experiences, evokes both humor and deep emotional resonance, earning the book a place among significant works addressing racial issues and the African American experience. The novel is a sequel to "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" and is part of a larger series that continues to explore the lives of the Logan family.
Let the Circle Be Unbroken by Mildred D. Taylor
First published: 1981
Type of plot: Historical realism
Time of work: The 1930’s
Locale: Rural Mississippi
Principal Characters:
David Logan (Papa) , the head of a landowning African American family in rural MississippiMary Logan (Mama) , David’s wife, the mother of Stacey, Cassie, Christopher-John, and Little ManCassie Logan , the nine-year-old narratorHorace Granger , the white owner of a large plantationLee Annie Lees , an elderly African American womanWade Jamison , a white lawyer and friend of the LogansStacey Logan , Cassie’s older brotherT. J. Avery , Stacey’s best friend
The Novel
Based on experiences typical of those endured by the author’s parents, Let the Circle Be Unbroken is a fictionalized portrayal of how a rural Mississippi community, and the Logan family in particular, faced adversity and survived during the Depression of the 1930’s. The novel contains fourteen chapters that separate major episodes or denote passage of time. Cassie Logan, the nine-year-old daughter of David and Mary Logan (“Mama” and “Papa”), narrates the story.
The opening chapter establishes a theme of discrimination and abuse of the community’s black families. T. J. Avery, Stacey’s classmate, is unjustly accused of killing a white store owner. The black families wonder whether T. J. can get a trial at all, and, if so, whether it can possibly be a fair one. Wade Jamison, a white lawyer whom the Logans respect, attempts to get T. J. acquitted, but he is unsuccessful; T. J. is sentenced to death.
As winter comes, the plight of both black and white sharecroppers and day laborers is revealed. Most of the area’s families live in one-room shacks with dirt floors. Even Papa, a landowner who has a nice five-room house and admits to being better off than many others, is worried about paying the taxes on his land. Papa has been cheated out of payment for his cotton crop by Horace Granger, the wealthy white plantation owner.
Meanwhile, Lee Annie Lees, the sixty-five-year-old aunt of a local black family, announces as she turns sixty-five that she will study for the voter-registration test. Cassie helps her to memorize all laws in the Constitution in preparation for the test, aware, however, that Horace Granger, for whom Lee Annie’s relatives are sharecroppers, can control her fate. When representatives of a Farm Workers’ Union solicit Papa’s support for an effort for “both black and white” he promises to “think it through,” but his enthusiasm for the union is diminished by his suspicion that black farmers would not really be protected by the organization. As tax-payment time approaches, Papa considers working temporarily on the railroad and later does so. Stacey realizes that times are hard and begs to quit school to get a job, but the Logans forbid it, insisting that they will make ends meet somehow.
Several times Papa’s brother Hammer comes from the North to visit, as does Bud Rankin, Mary Logan’s nephew. When it becomes known that Bud has a white wife, there is tension between Bud and Hammer in particular, but Bud asks the Logans if his daughter Suzella can visit. Encouraged by her mother, Suzella has often passed for white so things “won’t be so hard” for her. Cassie has trouble accepting her: she resents giving up her bed and seeing Stacey give Suzella all his attention, but she grudgingly tolerates her.
Things worsen when the county agent requires some families to plow up the parts of their cotton crop that are over the quota. Stacey finally feels compelled to do something to help, so he and a friend, Moe, run away to take jobs cutting cane. The family is distraught; Mama sends for Papa, but it is difficult to know how to look for the boys. Cassie questions how the adults can pretend that everything is all right, but Mama reminds her that “life goes on no matter what.” As feared, Granger sees to it that Lee Annie is told that she has failed the voter registration test she had vowed to take. On New Year’s Day, news finally comes that Stacey and Moe have been located. Again, Mr. Jamison helps the Logans; he finds Stacey, who is reunited with his family. Cassie remembers her mother’s saying that one day Stacey would be her friend again, and she sees that her mother’s prediction is true.
The Characters
David Logan (Papa) is a fully human man with a strong sense of values and strength of character that have earned him the love and respect of his family and his community. While fortunate to have acquired four hundred acres of land, he is never arrogant or indifferent to the needs of his less fortunate neighbors. He possesses the wisdom to know when and how to speak up and when to remain silent. Although he is a thoroughly admirable character, his goodness never seems contrived or artificial.
Mary Logan (Mama) is the author’s mouthpiece for voicing her feelings about the unjust treatment of blacks in the 1930’s. Moreover, Mama is a warm, loving mother who wants her children to understand what it means to be black in a white-dominated world and to learn to deal with it. She believes in education and in self-improvement, and she hopes that one day the children will be spared the racial discrimination she has known.
Cassie, a fifth-grader at the beginning of the story, experiences the gamut of feelings that a young girl coming into adolescence has. Capable of hurt feelings and jealousy, she is also sensitive: to harmonica music, to T. J., even to Suzella at times. She is clever; in a game of marbles, she plots to win the prize blue one, risking punishment afterward since Papa has said that “marbles might lead to gambling.” She feels the sting of being treated like a child by her eldest brother when he becomes a teenager.
Stacey is a lovable, serious-minded preteen. He feels a responsibility to family, even to the point of sacrificing his own comfort and disobeying and worrying his parents in order to try to help them. He shows courage in taking the necessary risks to do what he feels is right.
Wade Jamison is a truly sympathetic character. Though shunned by other white people in the community for trying to get justice at T. J.’s trial, he has a genuine sense of justice. He faces reality squarely, however; he knows that his just behavior toward the black families cannot cancel the years of abuse they have received from other whites.
Horace Granger, the white plantation owner, is predictable. He is a prejudiced, powerful white man who seems truly to believe that racial equality is unthinkable. Perhaps a product of his own upbringing, he measures success in terms of power over, and manipulation of, both black and white sharecroppers.
Suzella Rankin experiences the dilemma of one who must live in two worlds. She admits the advantages of being able to pass as white, but she loves her black father even when she feels ashamed of him. The fact that she is too advanced to remain at her grade level in the rural Mississippi school demonstrates the contrast in education and opportunity between the North and the South. Lee Annie, though aunt to the Ellis family by blood relationship, is “aunt” to the community. Loved by all, she shows courage and strength of character when she decides that, at age sixty-five, she will do what she has always longed to do: register to vote.
Critical Context
Let the Circle Be Unbroken is the third of Mildred D. Taylor’s books; her first, Song of the Trees, was published in 1975. The next year, she published Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, and Let the Circle Be Unbroken, which followed in 1981, is a sequel to that book. Additional novels including The Friendship (1987) and The Road to Memphis (1990) continue the story of the Logan family.
Rather than experimenting with innovative techniques, Taylor opts to use her natural language skills to let the young Cassie Logan tell her story. The novel flows with a smoothness and clarity that helped to establish Taylor’s reputation. It is both humorous and capable of evoking deep emotional reactions. The fact that the author bases her novels on the kinds of experiences that her own parents lived through may well contribute to the power and compassion that she brings to her work. Also, Taylor’s own Peace Corps experience in Ethiopia as a teacher further broadened her base of knowledge and sensitivity. Some critics have suggested that Let the Circle Be Unbroken and the Logan family series belong alongside other classics such as Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) and Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie (1869). Taylor has received formal recognition for the Logan family series, including The New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year Award for her first work, Song of the Trees. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry won the American Library Association’s Notable Book award and the Newbery Medal in 1977 and was a finalist for the National Book Award.
Bibliography
Bosmajian, Hamida. “Mildred Taylor’s Story of Cassie Logan: A Search for Law and Justice in a Racist Society.” Children’s Literature 24 (1996): 141-160. A perceptive essay that explores the treatment of racism and justice in Taylor’s works, especially in relation to Cassie Logan. A solid examination of themes common to Taylor’s writings.
Eiger, Melanie. Review of Let the Circle Be Unbroken, by Mildred D. Taylor. Best Sellers 41 (February, 1982): 444. Eiger suggests that Let the Circle Be Unbroken could have a positive influence on the younger reader, white or black, in dealing with problems of racial discrimination and injustice. She notes that the example of the Logan family provides instruction in courage, dignity, and the value of passive resistance.
Fogelman, Phyllis J. “Mildred D. Taylor.” The Horn Book Magazine 53 (August, 1977): 410-414. Gives a brief account of Taylor’s early life and discusses the influences on her first two books.
Harper, Mary Turner. “Merger and Metamorphosis in the Fiction of Mildred D. Taylor.” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 13 (Summer, 1988): 75-80. Harper identifies the rich oral tradition of African American folktales as a source for Taylor’s works. The characters draw courage and strength from such folk songs as the one that inspires the novel’s title.
Heins, Ethel L. Review of Let the Circle Be Unbroken, by Mildred D. Taylor. The Horn Book Magazine 58 (April, 1982): 173. Comments that Taylor demonstrates sensitivity in her treatment of the injustice and suffering that African Americans endured during the Depression. The reviewer observes that Cassie’s narration captures something of the transition from childhood innocence to an awareness of the black condition.
Jordan, June. “Mississippi in the Thirties.” The New York Times Book Review 86 (November 15, 1981): 55, 58. Jordan praises Taylor’s ability to deal with the effects of New Deal politics and 1930’s racial discrimination in language and style that is appropriate for the younger reader. The sharing of true community, the risk-taking, and the courage of the Logans even in the face of humiliation, Jordan says, make the novel worthy of being called a classic.
McDonnell, Christine. “Powerful Lesson of Family Love.” The Christian Science Monitor 73 (October 13, 1981): B1, B11. Notes that Let the Circle Be Unbroken appeals to readers of all ages, although its main thrust is toward the young. Observes that Taylor uses contrast as a major means of organizing her commentary on the cruel conditions of the rural black family in Depression Mississippi.
Rees, David. “The Color of Skin: Mildred Taylor.” In The Marble in the Water: Essays on Contemporary Writers of Fiction for Children and Young Adults. Boston: The Horn Book, 1980. A comparative study that recognizes that Taylor “comes closer than anyone else to giving us a really good novel about racial prejudice.”
Smith, Karen. “A Chronicle of Family Honor: Balancing Rage and Triumph in the Novels of Mildred D. Taylor.” In African American Voices in Young Adult Literature: Tradition, Transition, Transformation, edited by Karen P. Smith. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow, 1994. Smith explores the treatment of the African American family in Mississippi during the Depression.
Taylor, Mildred D. “Newbery Award Acceptance: Address.” The Horn Book Magazine 53 (August, 1977): 401-409. Taylor describes the origins of her prize-winning novel, which she says is “about human pride and survival in a cruelly racist society.”
Taylor, Mildred D. Song of the Trees. New York: Dial Press, 1975. Taylor’s first novel about the Logan family. Selected by The New York Times as one of the outstanding books of 1975. Followed by the Newbery Medal-winning Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.