For this paper I've chosen to focus on Anne Moody's book. I'd like to discuss how the powerful and individual can be in addition to the theme of inquisition evident in the book. My paper so far is posted as a comment.
The memoir entitled “Coming of Age in Mississippi” tells the experiences of Anne Moody during the Civil Rights movement in America. Through her recollection of personal experiences, the reader is given the opportunity to understand what life may have been like for the African Americans living in the south in the 1940’s and 50’s. Anne Moody’s inquisitive nature evident as early as childhood gains her much knowledge which ultimately defines her character. Evident in the text is the tremendous power of the individual to achieve. This book serves as inspiration for present day Americans to stand up for what they believe in. The novel is set in Mississippi and Louisiana before and during the Civil Rights movement. The novel begins with Moody as a young child and recollections of her family life. This later allows for a better understand of how and why many of the African Americans were fearful of fighting for freedom. The conflicts in Moody’s family can be generalized to many families during this time period, specifically conflicts regarding personal safety and security. From reading the memoir, it is evident that Anne Moody wants the reader to understand just how much one person can accomplish. This is accomplished by writing about some of her personal experiences while growing up. An example of which is the sit in that she performed at a Woolworths with fellow NAACP members. Her contributions to the civil rights movement were very worthwhile yet very risky to her safety and the safety of others. The major theme of inquisition plays a large role and is seen from the very onset of the book. Moody questions the structure of many aspects of society and constantly looks to her mother for understanding. This continues throughout Moody’s development but in a slightly different way. Now away from her mother, Moody asks herself many questions while off on her own. These questions serve as a reflection on negro issues during the time. It is through this inquisition that Moody successful demonstrates how unfairly the African American’s are treated. This inquisition ties into her motivation to contribute to the movement. Anne character changes drastically throughout the book. As she explains earlier in her childhood, she was once concerned with impressing others in an attempt to prove herself. As she matures her goals shift from focusing on improving herself to focusing on improving life for all African Americans. In a major realization concerning her academic performance during the movement, Moody says “something happened to me as I got more involved in the Movement. It no longer seemed important to prove anything. I had found something outside myself that gave meaning to my life (Moody, 288).” This shift in personality is important to our understanding of Moody’s character. It is from this point in the memoir that power of the individual really becomes apparent. Anne continues to contribute and offer herself to the various organizations to help the greater good.
joe- i like the idea behind this paper a lot, but i think it seems like an idea you might usually put into a conclusion, because it doesnt require an extensive amount of textual analysis, mostly because it is pretty broad. You have a lot of good ideas in the paragraphs though, and i think that any of those ideas would make for a really good paper that you clearly already have information about...there are also a couple of minor grammatical and typing errors, but youll see those as soon as you read it over again also in the 3rd paragraph, you may not want to use the word "accomplish" twice,...make sure that whichever topic you do end up choosing, you have grounds for a lot of textual evidence and quotes that you can use to support your idea good start! colleen
Your thesis is more discriptive than argumentitive.
an argument might be that Moody's childhood and her incuisitiveness then lead her to be an individual who was involved in the movement and that had some kind of effect on people today.
i don't know if that helped (or if that's a really strong argument) but it's an idea. also bringing in more examples from her childhood would help to make your point.
The memoir entitled “Coming of Age in Mississippi” tells the experiences of Anne Moody during the Civil Rights movement in America. Through her recollection of personal experiences, the reader is given the opportunity to understand what life may have been like for the African Americans living in the south in the 1940’s and 50’s. Anne Moody’s inquisitive nature evident as early as childhood gains her much knowledge which ultimately defines her character. Evident in the text is the tremendous power of the individual to achieve. This book serves as inspiration for present day Americans to stand up for what they believe in.
ReplyDeleteThe novel is set in Mississippi and Louisiana before and during the Civil Rights movement. The novel begins with Moody as a young child and recollections of her family life. This later allows for a better understand of how and why many of the African Americans were fearful of fighting for freedom. The conflicts in Moody’s family can be generalized to many families during this time period, specifically conflicts regarding personal safety and security.
From reading the memoir, it is evident that Anne Moody wants the reader to understand just how much one person can accomplish. This is accomplished by writing about some of her personal experiences while growing up. An example of which is the sit in that she performed at a Woolworths with fellow NAACP members. Her contributions to the civil rights movement were very worthwhile yet very risky to her safety and the safety of others.
The major theme of inquisition plays a large role and is seen from the very onset of the book. Moody questions the structure of many aspects of society and constantly looks to her mother for understanding. This continues throughout Moody’s development but in a slightly different way. Now away from her mother, Moody asks herself many questions while off on her own. These questions serve as a reflection on negro issues during the time. It is through this inquisition that Moody successful demonstrates how unfairly the African American’s are treated. This inquisition ties into her motivation to contribute to the movement.
Anne character changes drastically throughout the book. As she explains earlier in her childhood, she was once concerned with impressing others in an attempt to prove herself. As she matures her goals shift from focusing on improving herself to focusing on improving life for all African Americans. In a major realization concerning her academic performance during the movement, Moody says “something happened to me as I got more involved in the Movement. It no longer seemed important to prove anything. I had found something outside myself that gave meaning to my life (Moody, 288).” This shift in personality is important to our understanding of Moody’s character. It is from this point in the memoir that power of the individual really becomes apparent. Anne continues to contribute and offer herself to the various organizations to help the greater good.
joe-
ReplyDeletei like the idea behind this paper a lot, but i think it seems like an idea you might usually put into a conclusion, because it doesnt require an extensive amount of textual analysis, mostly because it is pretty broad. You have a lot of good ideas in the paragraphs though, and i think that any of those ideas would make for a really good paper that you clearly already have information about...there are also a couple of minor grammatical and typing errors, but youll see those as soon as you read it over again
also in the 3rd paragraph, you may not want to use the word "accomplish" twice,...make sure that whichever topic you do end up choosing, you have grounds for a lot of textual evidence and quotes that you can use to support your idea
good start!
colleen
Your thesis is more discriptive than argumentitive.
ReplyDeletean argument might be that Moody's childhood and her incuisitiveness then lead her to be an individual who was involved in the movement and that had some kind of effect on people today.
i don't know if that helped (or if that's a really strong argument) but it's an idea. also bringing in more examples from her childhood would help to make your point.
good start
kennan