Sounder

As Black sharecroppers in the 19th-century American South, the main character and his family endure constant discrimination and hostility from the white people around them, and the sheer scope of these injustices deeply and irreparably wounds the entire family in various ways. Both the boy and his dog, Sounder, survive these injustices, and their resilience and will to live prove to be powerful coping mechanisms in the face of systemic violence and cruelty.

While growing up in a meager cabin on a plantation, the boy has few opportunities to learn anything other than his parents’ profession of working the land. The author’s description of the boy’s difficult journey to school shows that the system of sharecropping deprived sharecroppers’ children of obtaining an education. With their labor needed on the farm and the small, rural schoolhouses located miles away, children like the boy could not consistently attend lessons. As the narrative states, “[The school’s] term began after harvest and ended before planting time. Two successive Octobers the boy had [walked] eight miles morning and evening. But after a few weeks when cold winds and winter sickness came, his mother had said, ‘Give it up, child. It’s too long and too cold’” (9). Because the boy’s harsh circumstances deprive him of an education, he finds his opportunities in life to be severely limited. Despite his love of stories, he remains illiterate like his parents, even though he privately yearns to read. Although this form of discrimination initially limits him, the boy manages to overcome this injustice by befriending the schoolteacher and doing chores for him in exchange for an education. However, a form of discrimination still exists in the fact that unlike the other children who could easily attend classes at no cost, the boy must work in exchange for the opportunity to learn.

The societal violence and racism that surround the boy and his family are also evident in the cruel, callous behavior of the authorities who mistreat and abuse them and their dog, Sounder. For example, the father’s abrupt arrest is made more traumatic by the sheriff’s treatment of Sounder, whom he shoots as he rides by on the wagon. The visceral descriptions of the dog’s painful injuries convey the lasting trauma of this moment, both for the dog and for those who are forced to watch so helplessly. As the narrative states, “[Sounder’s] head swung side to side. He fell again and pushed his body along with his hind legs. One side of his head was a mass of blood. The blast had torn off the whole side of his head and shoulder” (22). Thus, although Sounder miraculously survives, his grievous injuries forever disable him, symbolizing the idea that violence and discrimination scar people and limit their chances to fulfill their potential. To further drive this point home, the author describes Sounder’s changed disposition when he returns to the family, emphasizing the fact that his bold, beautiful voice was largely silenced and that the “great hunter with the single eye […] never hopped much farther from the cabin than the spot in the road where he had tried to jump on the wagon with his master” (44). Thus, in a single line, Armstrong simultaneously emphasizes the wreckage of the once-glorious dog and delivers a sharply emotional reminder of the traumatic moment that led to the ruin of his master.

The boy, too, experiences profound examples of cruelty as he visits town and travels throughout the county. When the boy visits his father in prison, for example, the sheriff angrily destroys the cake that the boy has brought for his father. Similarly, another oppressive authority figure later appears in the form of the prison guard who subjects him to even worse treatment by throwing an iron scrap and wounding his hand. Despite this injustice, the boy refuses to show any fear and silently resists the guard’s intimidation, causing him to feel “defeat in the midst of his glee” (56). By depicting these instances of needless cruelty, Armstrong delves into the lasting emotional, physical, and psychological damage caused by racist discrimination; however, it is also clear that the boy still strives to fulfill his goals in these hostile conditions, and his defiant response speaks to his hard core of determination.