Sounder is a young adult novel by
William H. ArmstrongWilliam H. Armstrong was an American children's author and educator, best known for his 1969 Newbery Medal-winning novel, Sounder....
. It is the story of an African-American boy living with his sharecropper family in Depression-era
LouisianaThe State of Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state divided into parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. Although the family's difficulties increase when the father is imprisoned for stealing pig meat and chicken, the boy still hungers for an education.
Sounder won the Newbery Award in 1970, and was made in to a
major motion pictureSounder is a 1972 film starring Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield, Kevin Hooks, Carmen Mathews, Taj Mahal, and Eric Hooks. It was adapted by Lonne Elder III and directed by Martin Ritt from the 1970 Newbery Medal-winning novel Sounder by William H...
in 1972.
Sounder is based on a true story.
The main character, the family's eldest son, is simply named boy.
Sounder is a young adult novel by
William H. ArmstrongWilliam H. Armstrong was an American children's author and educator, best known for his 1969 Newbery Medal-winning novel, Sounder....
. It is the story of an African-American boy living with his sharecropper family in Depression-era
LouisianaThe State of Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state divided into parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. Although the family's difficulties increase when the father is imprisoned for stealing pig meat and chicken, the boy still hungers for an education.
Sounder won the Newbery Award in 1970, and was made in to a
major motion pictureSounder is a 1972 film starring Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield, Kevin Hooks, Carmen Mathews, Taj Mahal, and Eric Hooks. It was adapted by Lonne Elder III and directed by Martin Ritt from the 1970 Newbery Medal-winning novel Sounder by William H...
in 1972.
Plot summary
Sounder is based on a true story.
The main character, the family's eldest son, is simply named boy. His father is a sharecropper, and works hard for very little money. His mother tries hard to make the best out of what little food they have. The "Sounder" of the title is the father's devoted hunting coon dog (a mixture of Georgia redbone hound and bulldog), named for his loud voice. Sounder is badly injured when shot by a shotgun while he chases the men who take his master away, on charges of stealing a piece of meat in order to feed his family..
When the family hears that the father is being transferred to another prison in the South, they can no longer visit him because no one will tell them where he's been taken. The boy goes looking for his father's work crew, against his mother's objections. He does not find his father, but he sees a group of convicts working hard in the sun behind a fence. A guard throws a piece of iron at him, injuring his hands, but he escapes without further injury.
On the way home, the boy saw a man throwing a book away and, since he's always wanted an education, he picks up the book. He then sees students running out of a school building. A teacher at the school treats his injury and offers to let the boy live with him so he can attend the school and get an education. The boy learns a lot from the teacher and later he realizes his education has given him a new perspective to view the world around him.
There are numerous cultural insights of the sharecropper community depicted. The novel is written in a Southern dialect. In the home stories are told by the mother to the children verbally. The mother, being illiterate, often repeats the same biblical stories to her children. The irony of the main characters having no specific names is also significant to the author's tone throughout the novel.
The theme of education being of higher value is apparent near the end of the novel. The boy realizes he reaches a point where he can correct his mother when she explains her reasoning of the "
dog daysThe phrase Dog Days or "the dog days of summer", Latin: Caniculae, Caniculares dies, refers to the hottest, most sultry days of summer. In the northern hemisphere they usually fall between early July and early September. In the Southern hemisphere they are usually between January and early March...
" of summer. He chooses to refrain from exposing her error and continues to pursue his education. The old teacher is depicted as a kind, old man who has a broad knowledge of written works and has high emotional intelligence. Lastly, the boy had grown emotionally from his previous younger years when he predicts Sounder's oncoming death and chooses to make preparations in advance.
Film
In 1972,
Sounder was made into a film starring
Cicely TysonCicely Tyson is an American actress. A successful stage actress, Tyson is also known for appearances in the film Sounder and the television specials The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and Roots.-Personal life:...
,
Paul WinfieldPaul Edward Winfield was an American television, film, and stage actor. He was known for his portrayal of a Louisiana sharecropper who struggles to support his family during the Great Depression in the landmark film Sounder which earned him an Academy Award nomination. Winfield also portrayed Dr....
,
Kevin HooksKevin Hooks is an American actor, and a television and film director; he is notable from his roles in Aaron Loves Angela & Sounder, but is most well known as the ever-lovable Morris Thorpe from TV's The White Shadow. He directed Wesley Snipes in Passenger 57 and also Laurence Fishburne and...
, Carmen Mathews,
Taj MahalHenry Saint Clair Fredericks , who goes by the stage name Taj Mahal, is an internationally recognized blues musician with two Grammy Awards to date who folds various forms of world music into his offerings...
, and Eric Hooks. It was written by
Lonne Elder IIILonne Elder III was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter. In 1973, he along with Suzanne de Passe became the first African Americans to be nominated for the Academy Award for writing...
and directed by
Martin RittMartin Ritt was an American director, actor, and playwright who worked in both film and theater. He was born in New York City.-Early Career and influences:...
.
Academy Award Nominations
- Best picture
The Academy Award for Best Motion Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible...
Best ActorPerformance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
Paul Winfield
- Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
- Cicely Tyson
- Best Adapted Screenplay
The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. It is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source...
In 2003,
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
's Wonderful World of Disney aired a new film adaptation, reuniting two actors from the original. Kevin Hooks directed and Paul Winfield played the role of the teacher. (Winfield and Hooks played father and son, respectively, in the original version.)
External links