Anne Moody’s autobiography ends with these words.
When I finished this autobiography I was left wondering what Moody could have possibly meant about “I wonder.” She had been through so much in her life and seen so much that it had left her disheartened. It almost seemed as if she had given up on the Movement; but I think she was just tired. Anne had struggled through so much: her father leaving, her family being shunned by the lighter skinned blacks, working for the whites in Mississippi just to barely make it by, struggling through college, working on the Movement, and, of course, being black in the South. Anne was tired. She was tired of seeing her people struggle or not even try to do anything to make a change.
During the Movement Anne went from being outspoken to just angry. Her family had turned their backs on her and she was in the midst of the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement; and the majority of the blacks in Mississippi were just too scared to do anything to help out with the Movement. We can see Anne’s optimism turn into cynicism. It seemed like every time they made a step forward, they were pushed about five steps back. Anne’s anger is understandable, she was frustrated. At the end when she’s on the bus and the younger people on there are filled with the optimism that comes with youth, Anne is unable to join in with their singing – something that used to fill her with hope and pride. She just sits there filled with apathy, I suppose. Life in the Movement had taken a toll on her and her life. She is unable to see that things would get better, and what with it being the early 1960’s she has a right to think as much, there was so much that she had to still go through to see any change being made for blacks. It seems almost reasonable for her to wonder if things would ever get better.
