Mom & Me & Mom, Essay Example

In the memoir “Mom & Me & Mom” author and poet Maya Angelou, who already wrote a memoir of hear early life entitled “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” offers a new perspective on her life by focusing largely on the life of her mother and the relationship between the wto women. This relationship was often difficult, as at the age of three Angelou was sent away by her mother to live with her grandmother in the South. Angelou’s mother, Vivian Baxter, lived in California, while Angelou and her brother Bailey (who was also sent to their grandmother’s) spent many of their formative years in places like Arkansas and Missouri. While both women faced many of the challenges posed by racism and segregation in the United States, there is no question that their backgrounds, experiences, and upbringings were very different. As a teenager, Angelou was eventually returned to her mother’s care, and this book is largely devoted to exploring their sometimes-complicated relationship in the years after their reunion. Despite their different backgrounds, Angelou eventually developed a deep love and respect for her mother, and this book shows how their similarities and their differences are what made their relationship strong and rewarding.

In previous books Angelou offers much greater detail about the years she spent living in the South, away from her mother. In “Mom & Me & Mom,” Angelou only devotes a few pages to this section of her life at the beginning of the book (though she does mention her early years at later points in the book as well) before describing her reunion with her mother. What Angelou makes clear, even to those who have not read any of her previous books, is that when she was a child the American South was a dangerous place to be black, and she notes that she and her brother had to move because “black boys his age who even noticed white girls risked being beaten, bruised, or lynched by the Ku Klux Klan” (p. 10).  He was, writes Angelou, “growing into his manhood” (p. 10) and it was only a matter of time before a too-long glance at a pretty white girl could result in injury or even death. Angelou and her brother were fortunate to have the option of moving away, and they were sent back to California to live with their mother, despite the fact that she was, to them, a stranger.

When Angelou first begins living with her mother, she decides to call her “Lady,” because she is so unlike any mother that Angelou knew from her upbringing in the South. And “Lady” had quite a different life from the life Angelou had known. Lady –or Vivian- was a professional gambler and hard-partying woman who had “big-city ways” (p. 35). Shortly after arriving in California, Vivian is arrested for being associated with a shoplifter, and when she is released she seems unconcerned, telling Angelou that she is not afraid of being in jail, but dislikes it simply because it inconveniences her. Vivian has other habits that seem odd to Angelou, such as storing and selling whiskey during a time when it was being rationed (and keeping thousands of dollars locked up along with her supply of liquor). Vivian’s life could not be any different from the lives of the women Angelou had known in the South, especially her grandmother. These differences play into the ways that Angelou attempts to forge her own identity as a young black woman in the middle of the 20^th century, in a period when her views of the world had been shaped by a childhood in the South.

Many of the anecdotes Angelou recounts in this book highlight issue related to race, identity, and prejudice. In one instance, Angelou is interested in getting a job as a conductorette on the San Francisco streetcars. It does not immediately occur to her that all the young women in that role are white, though when she is refused the chance to apply, she understands that it is because of her race. Her mother encourages her to try again, and offers advice on how to go about it. For Angelou, being rejected for a job (or for any other reason) over race is simply a part of life, because of her upbringing. Her mother, by contrast, has very different views, and refuses to be limited by the same prejudices. There are other stories and moments throughout the book when Angelou and her mother have different views on issues such as race and racial identity or the roles of women, but Angelou describes a woman who is very strong and always supportive. They were always two very different people, but Angelou certainly credits her mother with being a positive influence on Angelou, and serving as an example of strength and independence.

Works cited

Angelou, Maya. Mom & Me & Mom. 1st ed. New York: Random House, 2013. Print.