Module Four: Sounder by William H. Armstrong

Bibliography

Armstrong, W. H. (1972). Sounder. New York, NY: Scholastic.

Summary

A young boy and his family in the Depression-era South face the struggles of African-American sharecroppers of the time, dealing with the ongoing food scarcity coupled with White oppression. After his father returns empty-handed from a series of hunting trip with their coon hound, Sounder, the boy finally wakes up one morning to the smell of sausage and ham cooking. Soon after, however, the sheriff comes to drag his father away for theft, shooting Sounder in the process. The family spends the next years without a father or husband, and months without its dog. When Sounder finally comes straggling in, emaciated and missing one eye, life has already changed for the boy and his family. In his father's absence, he has taken over his father's field duties to support his mother and siblings. The boy continually searches for his father, walking from town to town. On one of these ventures, he meets a teacher who offers him an chance to attend school. When the boy excitedly delivers this news to his mother, she realizes it is an opportunity he cannot afford to pass up if he wants a life outside of sharecropping. Meanwhile, his father finally returns home, old and crippled. Life has changed irreversibly, however, and neither the boy, nor his family, can go back to the past.

 

My Impressions

I was struck most by the spare, poetic language Armstrong uses in Sounder. The novel itself is quite similar to a poem: its rich, densely-packed prose conveys much with few words. Amazingly, he makes the characters come alive without ever giving them names (which was not the case for the film version of Sounder). Details are kept to a minimum, but the reader is invested in the boy and his family because of their strength, perseverance, and obvious love for one another. Sounder's enduring love for his master is evident at several moments throughout the story, but never more so than when the father finally returns from work camp, a mere shadow of his former self, and Sounder finds his voice once again. 

Reviews

 Amazon
"Sounder is no beauty. But as a coon dog, this loyal mongrel with his cavernous bark is unmatched. When the African American sharecropper who has raised Sounder from a pup is hauled off to jail for stealing a hog, his family must suffer their humiliation and crushing loss with no recourse. To make matters worse, in the fracas, Sounder is shot and disappears. The eventual return of a tattered and emaciated Sounder doesn't change the fact that the sharecropper's oldest son is forced to take on man's work to help support the family. His transition to adulthood is paved by the rocks and taunts hurled at him by convicts and guards as he searches for his father. But along this rough road he ultimately finds salvation as well.

William H. Armstrong's Newbery Award-winning novel quickly became a classic as a moving portrayal of resilience and hope in the face of profound human tragedy. Decades later, the bittersweet story still rings true, as strong-spirited individuals continue to battle the evil of prejudice."

 

Use in Library

This could be used in a literacy program to show elementary school children the true significance of reading and how important it is to those who don't know how. We often take for granted the ability to read, but the protagonist in Sounder wants more than anything to learn how to read. To him, reading is the antidote to loneliness; to his parents, it means freedom from the sharecropper's life. Librarians could describe examples of how illiteracy severely limits a person's options in life. A guest speaker(s) who is illiterate or was so late in life could be brought in to make this issue resonate more personally. To further drive this point home, librarians could construct an environment in a foreign language unknown to all participants. Perhaps a large room with signs in foreign languages, etc. could be arranged, and the children would be given assignments to carry out in this environment, which would prove very difficult without being able to read or write.

Coulter, E. (n.d.). Amazon.com review. [Review of the book Sounder]. Amazon. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Sounder-William-H-Armstrong/dp/product-description/1581180543/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books

Image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sounder