In the book Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor, several of the characters stutter or stammer in various parts of the book. When...

Characters in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry often stammer or stutter when there is simply nothing they can say about hideous incidents that are motivated by horrible racial prejudice. For example, when the children visit Mr. Berry in Chapter 4, they "stammered a greeting." They simply do not know what to say, as Mr. Berry has been badly burned by a vigilante mob of white people. The author describes his body: "The face had no nose, and the head no hair; the skin was scarred, burned, and the lips were wizened black, like charcoal" (page numbers vary by edition). Looking at such a hideous sight, the children have to stammer because they are speechless. When Christopher-John first finds out about the burning of the Berry family in Chapter 1, he stammers, "Y-you mean just lit 'em up like a piece of wood!" (page numbers vary by edition). His eyes are "growing big with disbelief," and it is natural that a child would stammer in this situation, when he is faced with an atrocity that is beyond anyone's worst idea of retribution.