“Coming of Age in Mississippi” by Anne Moody

"Coming of Age in Mississippi," was first published in 1968. It was later published in 2004 (Moody, 2011). The author of the book is Anne Moody. The book contains 424 pages. The setting of the story in the book is an American environment. The book is divided into four parts. The first part is childhood that starts from chapter one to ten (Moody, 2011). The second part is high school that starts from chapter eleven to chapter nineteen (Moody, 2011). The third part is college that starts from chapter twenty to chapter to chapter twenty two. The fourth part is the movement that starts from chapter twenty three to chapter to chapter twenty five (Moody, 2011). The cover page of the book contains an image of young African American woman that might be an imagery of the main character in the book. In accordance to Moody the book was her own autobiography thus she never considered herself as a writer but an activist.

Characters

The main character in the book is Essie Mae. The rest of the characters comprise of Toosweet Davis Anne's mother, Adline Moody Anne's young sister, James Moody Anne's younger brother, Junior Moody Anne's younger brother, Virginia Moody sister to Anne, Alberta Anne's aunt, Darlene is the sister to Raymond, Mrs. Burke who employs Anne as a maid, The Carter Family are the owners of the plantation where Anne and her entire family leave, Reverend Carson is Anne's teacher at Mt. Pleasant School, Doris a fellow activist with Anne in Canton, Florence, George Lee Anne's uncle, Mr. Hicks the gym teacher and athletic coach, Linda Mae Jenkins the lady who employs Anne as a maid and babysitter, The Johnson Family is where Anne's mother works as a maid, Ola Johnson the grandmother of the Johnson family, Keemp is a basketball player and the first boyfriend of Anne, Reverend Edward King is an activist who befriends Anne, Miss Pearl is Raymond's mother, Grandfather Moody is Anne's grandfather, Mrs. Rice is Anne's teacher, Uncle Ed is the uncle of Anne, Mr. Willis is the principal of Anne's high school, Mrs. Willis is a teacher of Anne and Winny who is Anne's grandmother (""SparkNotes: Coming of Age in Mississippi: Character List"", 2017).

Plot overview

Essie Mae who is a direct reflection of Anne Moody is brought up in a poor African American family that lived on a plantation (Fox, 2015). Their house never had electricity nor indoor plumbing while Carter's family house had both thus the only light in the plantation was from Carter's house (Moody, 2011). Her parents used to work in the plantation while Mae and her siblings were tasked with duties in the house. Her mother switched from one job to another in order to meet the needs for her family. Mae is good in her academics. She does part-time tasks such as cleaning houses for the white families in order to aid in meeting the family needs. Mrs. Busk discriminates and looks down upon the African American individuals. Mae grows into a beautiful young woman where she is elected homecoming queen (Moody, 2011).

When Anne receives news of a brutal murder of a young African American boy she gets informed of the racial inequality around her thus as she grows up she gains more understanding of this fact. She joins the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) where she begins the struggle for racial injustices (Moody, 2011). She later earns a basket scholarship to Natchez College and later transfers to Tougaloo College for her final academic years where she joins the NAACP despite being warned by her family and the sheriff. She becomes an active member of the civil rights movement (Moody, 2011). Mae later works as an activist in CORE (Coalition for the Organization of Racial Equality) (Moody, 2011). Her main focus was on economic issues that are aimed at improving the lives of African Americans.

References

Moody, A. (2011).? Coming of age in Mississippi. New York: Bantam Dell.

SparkNotes: Coming of Age in Mississippi: Character List. (2017).? Sparknotes.com. Retrieved 21 November 2017, from https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/comingofage/characters.html

Fox, M. (2015).? Anne Moody, Author of '?Coming of Age in Mississippi,' Dies at 74.? Nytimes.com. Retrieved 21 November 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/18/books/anne-moody-author-of-coming-of-age-in-mississippi-dies-at-74.html

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