Socialization Agents Of Coming Of Age In Mississippi

2 Pages 416 Words

Socialization Agents of Coming of Age in Mississippi
The title of Anne Moody’s autobiography, Coming of Age in Mississippi, suggests an ongoing process of socialization. The most important socialization agent would be Anne’s family. I believe this because family is the most important factor in a child’s life. They decide how the child will perceive life, and whether or not the child will succeed in life.
A child is molded by the way a family treats the child and by their actions. In the autobiography, Anne is abused by her older cousin. She is terrified by the thought of him. I believe this abuse made her stronger when she became older. Her parents divorced when she was five years old. Her father was a womanizer and a gambler. She saw the pain and suffering that her mother went through. She heard her mother crying in the middle of the night because she was depressed. I think the divorce and the pain that she saw made Anne grow up faster than a child that doesn’t go through that.
Anne’s family was poor. Her mother was trying to support the children and herself, she barely had enough money to feed the children. Her mother always seemed to be pregnant. When Anne was nine years old, she got her first job. She started working for white women, sweeping and cleaning the white people’s houses. She was proud to bring money home to help feed herself and her family.
Anne’s mother was a very strong person in one way, but very weak in another way. She was strong because she managed to hold the family together through many hardships, she kept the children fed and in school. She was weak because she was scared to speak up for herself; she was scared to fight for her rights. She didn’t question how black people were treated; she just took it and moved on. Anne was opposite of her mother, when it came to the weakness. She wasn’t scared to speak up for her rights, she questioned the injustice.
Family pla...