Coming of age in Mississippi by Moody Anne - Essay Example

? We will never know what it truly means to be less fortunate until we are given an insight to a world which may prove to be quite alien to our own. “Coming of Age in Mississippi” written by Anne Moody is a very interesting book which dealt with the story of a young girl growing up in a jaded and very partial world. We will probably never truly understand the feeling of what it must have been like to be in that particular situation but the author's story was one that many can relate and empathize with. It talks about family relationships, growing up in poverty and civil rights. The book four significant sections that it has been subdivided into. On the initial part of the book, the author reminisces on her childhood and the early years of her life. She spent this phase of her life in the rural parts of Mississippi. Her parents were sharecroppers and despite the fact that they were working from sun-up to sun-down, there still did not seem to have enough money to provide for food and other necessities like clothing for their children. According to Moody, they were living in a shack, but like all the other shacks in the plantation, they did not have any electricity or any indoor plumbing. Necessities which only the house of the owner had. She talked about George Lee who was tasked with babysitting while her parents were working in the fields, and also dwelled on how much he resented it, and vented out his frustrations by beating up the girls. One day, he was trying to scare the girls with the matches and accidentally burned the shack. He did not own up to this mischief and her father beat her up for it, thinking that she was to blame. However, her father eventually had an affair with another black woman and abandoned their family. She started working everyday after-school as well as on the weekends to compensate for the loss of income from her father's desertion. Moody talked about how they had moved to from one house to another for the next six years. Her mother was working two jobs; a waitress for a black people's cafe and a maid for white families. She talked about how their family was hungry all the time. They were only eating bread and beans most of the time, and some table scraps given by her mother's employers. Despite their family's desperate circumstances, Moody was doing really well in school. Most of the people who employed her as a domestic helper were generally nice and she has kept at this kind of work up until her senior year in high school. The only employer she had any real problem with was Mrs. Durke, which in her narration, appeared to be a nasty woman who was a racist. Mrs. Durke was apparently antagonized by Moody's closeness with her son, which resulted to her accusing Moody's younger brother of stealing, and Moody herself quitting the job because of it. Moody became quite popular with the male populace, both in school and in her community. She talked about how she was outgrowing her school dresses and worn jeans that were becoming too tight but which her family did not have the means to replace. Her popularity was such that she even got elected as the homecoming queen which seems to be a happy highlight in her youth. Her mother took pains of buying her a beautiful gown which made the occasion even more special. Her mother remarried and eventually had four more children. Her stepfather's family seemed snotty, based on Moody's narration, and looked down on their family because of their darker skin. However, she enjoyed being in their new residence, particularly the church which she described as having more class than her old church. She got into quite a lot of arguments with her mother, because her mother was insisting that she goes to the old poorer church. She was awakened to some pretty harsh realities when she heard about Emmett Till, who was 14 years of age and was murdered brutally for supposedly whistling at a white woman. She became very conscious of the racial inequality around her. As a younger child, she tried hard to understand the differences between the races, and has failed to get any further understanding of this fact as she grew older. She wondered if there were any real significant differences between blacks and whites, except for the fact that the black women were cleaning the white women’s homes. When Moody first heard about the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a prohibited organization in rural Mississippi, she begun contemplating how the racial inequalities around her can be eliminated. On the otherhand, her personal troubles pertaining to her family were becoming worse. Her mother felt that Moody was looking down on her, particularly when Moody changed her name. They were also unable to understand her expressed interests in the civil rights movement and were in fact threatened by it. She eventually stormed out when the situation became too much for her, and went to live with her father and his new wife whose family had lighter skin but were quite humble and did not think having a lighter skin entitles them to look down on others. Moody accepted a basketball scholarship to Natchez College, a very conservative Baptist college in Mississippi where she had her first boyfriend. She eventually transferred to Tougaloo College for the final two years of her college. At Tougaloo, she joined the NAACP, despite her mother's strong protests. The local sheriff even warned her mother that she must not attend NAACP events, otherwise it will mean trouble for her family. Nevertheless, Anne became an active member in the NAACP as well as the civil rights movement, despite her family’s ardent pleas for her to quit. Moody also participated in the renowned sit-in at the lunch counter of the Woolworth’s in Jackson, Mississippi. She later worked as a Coalition for the Organization of Racial Equality (CORE) activist in rural Madison County, Mississippi, where she and the other activists were the targets of violent threats. After thorough work, Anne concluded that the movement did not improve the lives of the people in Mississippi. It was focused too much on voter registration and even political theater, like the Freedom Vote which was a mock vote supposed to protest disenfranchisement of blacks. Moody wanted the movement to focus more on economic issues, such as how they can possibly help black farmers in buying their own land. At the end of her autobiography, the twenty-three-year-old Moody was getting on a bus to Washington. The bus was filled with volunteers who all seem far more spirited and younger than she was herself. As they were singing “We Shall Overcome,” Anne wondered if blacks will ever really overcome racism. The book set me into thinking of a lot of angles. On the initial part of the story, Moody talked about not having any electricity and indoor plumbing which only the white's house enjoyed. Her mother said that the owner is probably counting the money that he made from his workers that day, which seems to carry a weight of antagonism as well as inequality. Electricity and indoor plumbing are bare necessities that will never be overlooked nowadays, and during her time, if their employers was then employing a white man, he would have been forced to provide those amenities. However, since he was in fact employing black people, he did not find any need to consider their living circumstances. She also talked about how her parents were working very long hours but still found themselves incapable of providing well for their family. This fact indicates that menial jobs did not pay well for blacks during those times. Each of her negative experiences prepared her for and led her to becoming an activist in the Civil Rights Movement. Coming of Age in Mississippi depicts Anne Moody's transition from a young impoverished black victim living in the harsh realities of a segregated violent south to her loss of social innocence that leads to her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. Coming of age may be defined as the transition of an individual from adolescence to adulthood. This change is usually associated with sexual maturity. However, in the case of Anne Moody, the transition was more of a mental transition from being part of a problem to becoming part of the solution to cure the ills of the a racist society. The disparity of economic and social justice for blacks in Mississippi framed her desire for equality. At the age of 15 Anne Moody came of age by making the decision to stop "pretending to be dumb and innocent" events which started the transition from impoverished victim into a social activist. It was scary for Ann Moody, an author and one of the leaders of the modern Civil Rights movement. Moody knew that only loud, public protests could change laws and sentiments. Others had driven that point home long before she was born. And Today, as in Moody's Coming of Age in Mississippi, about life in the rural South during the 1940s and 1950s, the creed is the same: staying quiet means suffering the consequences. Anne Moody experienced the social insignificance of being black in American first hand. Her moving story Coming of Age in Mississippi explores the personal characteristics that were most responsible for the way she responded to her situation. There are some underlying areas of disrespect toward her mother. Moody did not appreciate her mother's dependence on men for her livelihood. She resented the fact that her mother became pregnant without the benefit of marriage. Moody was wise beyond her years. She was not accepting of authority for its own sake. She challenged the authority of not only her parents but also the white establishment. It was a combination of character and events that shaped her destiny. The ultimate direction that the life of Anne Moody took was shaped as much by circumstances of her life, her character and the social interaction of the races during her lifetime When she started to question the treatment of her people, she set in motion a string of events and decisions that would define her life. As a result of her personal characteristics as well as the specific experiences, Moody became one of the many heroic voices of the Civil Rights movement. At Tougaloo University, she found her voice and also supportive group of people who understood her dissatisfaction with the plight of Negroes in the South. Her decision was to fight against discrimination not to succumb to it. She believed in social justice and fought for her belief. The ability to see a better life for Negroes culminated in her activities as an organizer and activist in the Civil Rights Movement. Growing up in poverty is quite normal for everyone, and a typical situation for most families in this world's tough economy. Only a marginal few are able to experience sheer luxury while they are growing up. However, there are those who are treated to unjust treatments, far worse than most. I can not even begin to imagine what it would be like to grow up knowing that regardless of what I do with myself, I will still be judged based on the color of my skin. Now, we enjoy the freedom of becoming who we want to be and be anyone we want to be as long as we try hard to achieve our dreams. However, Moody grew up at a time wherein she was only as good as what the white people would allow. It is probably degrading to feel that the color of your skin makes you suitable only for menial jobs. It should also be noted though, that the time in which she grew up was far less worse than those of her ancestors. I can not seem to remember the title of the book I read once before, but the woman talked about her pregnancy and how her employers milked her and used her milk in the house. A lot of shocking stories can be read pertaining to the poor treatment of black Americans in history. It is also true that the aftermaths of centuries old traditions of condemnation can not be dispelled simply changing the law. Moody talked about how her father deserted her family to live with another woman. That part is also a normal occurrence which happens quite often regardless of the generation in which we live in. All humans seem to have this weakness to succumb to temptation when the going gets tough. It will be of course be unfair to pass on judgment though it is just one of those situations wherein the victims are usually the young ones. Her father's desertion pressed on more responsibilities on her very young shoulders and this has probably made her a wiser child than most. Life is always the toughest of all teachers and being forced to face up to tough realities at such a young age probably influenced her views in life. As her story progressed, there were certain subtle implications of her growing awareness of the inequalities between the whites and blacks. Knowing the situations made her want to be free of those constrictions, as one would expect of anyone with her character. By saying her character, I am pertaining to her determination which held her together while she was growing up as well as the sheer strength which helped her aid her family in their toughest moments. There was nothing very remarkable about the book, but this does not mean it is not good. It was touching in it's simplicity which made it a great deal easier to empathize, even if some will be unable to understand the will that drove her. She ended the book with a hanging ending and no real conclusion. This fact made me think of the current situation of blacks. Though technically speaking, we claim that there is no more prevalent racism, there are still those that exists to an extent greater than what the society will openly acknowledge. I sympathize with their cause and their history, but nevertheless, I believe that what they have gone through was only made them stronger and these should always urge them to be better rather than discourage them. Read More