Anne Moody's Moodiness: Coming Of Age In Mississippi
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Moody’s Moodiness
Coming of Age in Mississippi describes a span of nineteen years in the life of Anne Moody. Written during the 1960’s (a turbulent time of American history), a depiction of one girls struggle with racial inequality, a mentality of “being pissed on and being told it’s raining” prevalent in the hearts of many of her family and friends, and the destruction being rendered on society by the monster of prejudice. These ideas are enhanced by the fact the major themes of the book are after overcoming all that she had up this point and hearing the song “We Shall Overcome” she begins to look pessimistically at the future saying “I wonder. I really wonder” (Moody 424). Everything that led up to this exact moment had left a lasting impact on her psyche and due in part to the topics discussed briefly, she looks on in silent judgment of the young and ambitious group who now filled the shoes she had help create years before. The absurdity of racial distinctions, the evil inherent in the…show more content… Everything up this point: the light-skin versus dark-skin debate, the disunity/ lack of support for activists, and the non-effective form of leadership at the helm of the movement were has had a hand in shaping her skeptical answer to the question, “Will we overcome?”. When talking about the inadequate leadership I am referring to how after exhaustive work, Anne concludes that the movement has not improved the lives of people in Mississippi. It has focused too much on voter registration and even political theater, such as the Freedom Vote, a mock vote intended to protest disenfranchisement of blacks. Instead, Anne wants the movement to focus on economic issues, such as helping black farmers buy their own land. This goes back to the saying “if you want change you must first change