Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody Anne Moody recollects her experiences in a poignant autobiography Coming of Age in Mississippi that convinces readers that the civil rights movement was essential during this period. Moody captures readers attention as she narrates in no uncertain terms her experiences as a poor southern African American. It begins when she was four years old, as a child of poor sharecroppers working for a white farmer. Aggravating the circumstances, her father leaves them for another woman and they are forced to transfer closer to town at Centreville. The book is simply divided into the four areas, apparently the four distinct divisions that had great influence her life. The book combines some real and fictionalized techniques, with conversations she recalls in the process of writing in order to present her life, especially those that happened during her childhood years. Starting off with Chapters 1-9 Moody dwells on her Childhood while Chapters 10-17 tackles her High School experiences. Going on from here, she narrates her disgust on some things she observes when she goes to College.
Her first impressions as she meets her roommate Gloria, who asks her a lot of questions, is one of frustration, I went to sleep thinking how much I would hate school. (Moody, p. 241).
She also witnesses situations that convince her of the unfairness of it all. Part 4 entitled The Movement finds her so frustrated, Its a shame, it really is a shame. This morning Medgar Evers was murdered and here you sit in a damn classroom with books in front of your faces, pretending you didnt even know hes been killed. Every Negro in Jackson should be in the streets raising hell and protesting his death. I felt sick. I got so mad with them. How could a Negro be so pitiful? How could they just sit and take all this shit without any emotions at all? I just didnt understand (Part 4 The Movement, p. 277).
The Essay on Hippie Movement
This liberal movement was a source of excitement for many teenagers and young adults alike (these people’s ages raged mainly between 15-25 years). It started out in the United States of America during the Vietnam War later spreading to other parts of the world such as Canada and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. These people simply rejected the ways of their predecessors ...
We see how her experiences become the foundation of her lifelong advocacy for the civil rights movements. She sees a lot of injustice to it all and we can only conclude that she is successful in her actions because she had been an achiever early on in life as she tries to augment the family income at a very young age. She keeps on seeing and observing how she and her fellow Negroes are regarded by society and this builds on to her. She takes up the cudgels in behalf of her fellow Negroes in her own way during her growing up years. For instance, at the young age of fifteen years old, she is aghast to find Emmett Till murdered. This racial violence stays in her mind as a vivid example of a social injustice that pervades the South.
Even is she comes to hate everyone, this only serves as the trigger points from where she is to act later on as the books alludes to towards the end. She questions things, mulls issues in her mind, observes, analyzes, and synthesizes it all with the conclusion that she will help them in her own way. She does not get jaded or even apathetic or resigned to it all because we see how she is even strengthened and encouraged to act accordingly. In sum, Moody ends her book with unsure thoughts of the discrimination ever ending. Her last lines tell it all as she recalls the lyrics of a song, We shall overcome. We shall overcome some day.
Yet she punctuates it with doubts, I wonder. I really wonder. (Moody, p. 384).
Nevertheless, readers remain hopeful as we see her headed off to Washington D.C. where she begins her valuable efforts in the civil rights movement.
WORKS CITED Moody, Anne. Coming of Age in Mississippi. Dell Publishing (1968) Random House Inc..
