Themes

A major theme in this story is the importance of family. When Stacey is gone, the family talks about how them family circle is broken. When he returns home, the family circle is unbroken. This is where the title of the book comes from. A topic in this book is racism. In the beginning of the story T.J. Avery is accused of murder. Even though he is innocent of the crime, he is still sentenced to death because he is black and the jury is made up of all white people We learn in this story that no matter how hard times can be family always comes first and is very important for them to be together. We also learn that people are very racist, because just like in T.J.'s trial it didn't matter that he was telling the truth. He was still accused of murder and died just because he was a black boy.