Anne Moody clearly had an outstanding talent for using literature to portray her life stories and share them with the world. In her writings Moody does not seem to write for pity on herself, she simply tells the stories exactly how they happened. Granted the stories are absolutely terrible and disgusting accounts of how truly horrid the white race could actually portray itself, but she doesn't go out of her way to make them look any more terrible than they truly were. I think that is a very important aspect of Moody's writings. Many people today are still somewhat racist and stereotypical of the African American population; often times African Americans are still portrayed in somewhat negative manners and are even still treated differently. Some people criticize the black communities and say that they only want help from other people, aren't hard workers, and just want everyone else to do their work for them. As it is so clearly shown in Moody's story--they are the exact opposite of all of those things.
The early stories of working for white women are crucial parts to developing Moody's stance and stories. The tales of being white women's maids and cooks show just how truly lazy and incompetent white women were in those days. This helps to explain partly why whites had such an aversion towards black people moving up and working in the same jobs and titles and they held because then who would do all of their cooking, cleaning, and plain old dirty work?
The ways in which Anne's relationship with her family shifts is very interesting to me. It was clear that Anne was never really very attached to her family in the first place, but she always had a lot of care for them and always fought to protect them at any cost. For example, she would leave home during the summers to go work in New Orleans or Baton Rouge and wouldn't even think twice about it. When she was a away from home it was like she completely detached from her family. But when she was still home with them she was very adamant about keeping strong for them and always going out of her way to watch out for them. For instance, she would make Adline and Junior eat their biscuits on the way to school so that they wouldn't be made fun of during lunch break, and she was also very watchful over her mother especially when it came to her relationships.
We really see a change in this once Anne becomes very involved with the Movement in Mississippi. Even though her mother writes her many letters pleading her not to participate in the demonstrations, she does so anyway. When she begins thinking that she will probably here about a murder in Centreville soon and that it will likely be one of her family members, she just says it so matter-of-factly. Almost like she's just come to terms with it and has just accepted it for what it is. I think this is also a way of showing her truly loyalty and devotion to the Civil Rights Movement.
Without people like Anne Moody, Medgar Evers, and Martin Luther King, Jr. I cannot imagine what my life would be like today. Some of my very best friends are African Americans, but I don't even think of it that way. It's almost like I'm one of the children in the beginning of the story--I don't see the color of their or my skin. To know that I share the same race as so many of those awful people is extremely disheartening to me. What's even more upsetting is that some of those same racist thoughts and opinions still exist today. Like Anne Moody said "..I wonder.." if things will ever truly and finally be set straight between all races.
