Sunday, June 12, 2011

In "Coming of Age in Mississippi," how does Anne Moody become disillusioned with the civil rights leaders of her time?

Anne Moody believed that many of the civil rights leaders of her time, like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., relied on rallies and demonstrations, or nonviolent means as their only tool to fight racial inequality.  She felt that these methods were ineffective.

"Anne travels with Reverend King and his wife to the March on Washington in August 1963, the summer when Martin Luther King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech."

"The drive is dangerous, and Anne is ambivalent about King’s message, since it seems too idealistic and unrelated to the gritty work she and her fellow activists have been doing in the Delta."

Frustrated that nothing seems to change for black people,Anne begins to work actively to provide food and clothing to people through her work with CORE. 

She knows that fear and desperation are great factors in many blacks desire to keep out of the movement.  However, the complacency that prevails in the black community makes her feel both emotionally and physically exhausted.

She ends her work with a question of whether all her efforts made a difference.  Even though she knows that equality for blacks is long overdue.  She is saddened by the uphill battle that never seems to end as the violence continues with the senseless deaths of many giants of the movement.

"Medgar Evers, and white civil rights supporters, such as John F. Kennedy, are slain, as are innocent men, women, and children.

No comments:

Post a Comment

In Act III, scene 2, why may the establishment of Claudius's guilt be considered the crisis of the revenge plot?

The crisis of a drama usually proceeds and leads to the climax.  In Shakespeare's Hamlet , the proof that Claudius is guilty...