Sounder written by William H. Armstrong describes the story of a black sharecropper and his family who struggles to make ends meet. The boys dad is a tenant farmer and the family is battling through tough times. Sounder is the family's dog. Sounder goes out hunting with the boys dad every single night.The father and Sounder return from hunting,but the hunting is poor.Thus far, the family lives on biscuits and gravy, but one morning that changed. This particular morning when the boy awakens he smells something phenomenal (Ham cooking). The boy runs into the kitchen to find his mom cooking a ham. His dad has conveyed ham to the family and everybody is thrilled. A couple of days after the fact, the family's' satisfaction is ruined when three white…show more content… Sounder, who is extremely connected to the father, barks and pursues the sheriff as the father is taken away. The sheriff cold-bloodedly shoots Sounder. Accepting Sounder to be dead or passing on, the boys mom advises her child to leave Sounder in peace to die. The boy searches for Sounders body for a couple of days but can't discover him anywhere. He then begins to trace their steps, only to find blood on the ground alongside sounders ear. He puts the ear under his pillow and wishes for Sounder's arrival. While the father is gone the family must continue on,the mother shucks walnuts and brings them to town for sale. The boy now carries the burden to look after his siblings while his mother is busy and father is away. One day the boys mom prepares a cake for the boy to give to his father. Despite the fact that the boy is eager to visit his dad, he's very nervous. Once he arrives he is told to wait by the jail guard. After waiting for hours, the boy is let into the jail, and the jail guard disassembles the cake into tiny pieces leaving only scraps left. The boy offers it to his father anyway and tells his father that Sounder may not be