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Chapter 9
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Becoming, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Optimism, Growth, and Fulfillment
Community, Investment, and Hard Work
Race, Gender, and Politics
Marriage, Parenthood, and Work
Power, Privilege, and Responsibility
Summary
Analysis
That summer, Barack returns to Chicago and moves into Michelle’s apartment, quickly becoming accepted by her family. Barack has accepted a summer associate job with a law firm, and he has also been chosen as president of the Harvard Law Review (the first African American president in the publication’s 103-year history). It is an honor that easily opens up high-paying corporate jobs, but instead he aspires to practice civil rights law, to write a book about race in America, and to find work that aligns with his values.
Michelle looks to Barack as another role model for both working hard and finding fulfillment in one’s life. Despite the fact that Barack could easily become a corporate lawyer, he chooses to do something that he is more passionate about. This decision will put him on a path to change the country and spur progress when he becomes president.
Themes
While Barack is very confident in his future, Michelle writes in a sporadically-used journal that she feels very confused about the direction of her life. Michelle recognizes, looking back on her words, that she was trying to tell herself that she hated being a lawyer, but could not admit this to herself because of the time and money she had put into her education.
Michelle views herself in contrast with Barack, who feels very assured of his passions and his direction in life. Michelle struggles with her path because she doesn’t know exactly what would be most fulfilling—she only knows that being a lawyer isn’t right for her.
Themes
Suzanne’s sudden death awakens a desire for more joy and meaning in Michelle’s life. She makes a list of the issues that interest her, knowing that a more “virtuous” job would earn less money. She asks about opportunities in other fields, though she doesn’t know where to begin. She laments that in all of her years of education, she never explored her passions.
Michelle also offers these thoughts as a kind of warning: that in addition to doing well in school, it is also necessary to find the things that interest a person, which would actually require prioritizing fun, as Suzanne did.
Themes
After a business trip to D.C., Michelle’s mother picks Michelle up from the airport and she confesses to her mother that she doesn’t feel “fulfilled” at work. Reflecting on these words in the present, Michelle realizes how this must have come across to her mother, who had at times worked to fund Michelle’s college education, and who also had not worked in order to take care of the family at home. Her mother had just driven an hour to pick her up from the airport, and she is letting her daughter live rent-free while taking care of a disabled husband on top of it all. Michelle realizes that fulfillment must have “struck her as a rich person’s conceit.” Michelle’s mother tells Michelle blankly to make money first and worry about happiness later.
Michelle’s mother reinforces Michelle’s initial idea that fulfillment is somewhat selfish, given the fact that she has sacrificed so much for her children. In some ways, she expects Michelle to do the same, and this is likely where Michelle learned this value. Michelle has long understood the value of hard work, and she will continue to understand the value of sacrifice, but she is also starting to learn the importance of finding something that makes her happy. Even though she doesn’t immediately start along this path, after she quits the law firm, she makes sure that every subsequent job has some meaning to her.
Themes
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Michelle continues to work at Sidley for the next six months, trying to focus on the aspects of her work she finds most meaningful. Meanwhile, at home, her father’s feet have inexplicably started to swell, though he insists as always that he’s fine. She tries to get him to go to the doctor, but he insists that doctors never bring good news and wants to avoid a visit.
While Suzanne’s death is the first spark that causes Michelle to try to find more meaningful work, her dad’s decline and eventual death is what truly gives her the sense of the importance of not wasting time in life on things that one is not passionate about.
Themes
Michelle’s father continues to avoid the doctor over the coming months. He takes particular pride in never missing a shift at work despite his growing slowness to get ready. Michelle and her mother don’t know what to do—despite his assurances, they can see his exhaustion, weakness, and a new swelling in his neck. One night, they stage an intervention, with Michelle telling him that he owes it to them to go to the doctor. He agrees, begrudgingly, to go.
Whereas growing up, Michelle’s father had invested in Michelle, now, in some ways, the dynamic has flipped. Michelle works hard to make sure that her dad knows the importance of going to the doctor and getting treatment, otherwise they could lose him very quickly.
Themes
The next morning, Michelle’s father gets up for work yet again. He makes it out the door, but when Michelle peers out the peephole, she sees that he has only made it partway down the stairs. It is “a moment of pure defeat.” She waits for him to return, trying not to hurt his dignity. But when she looks out again several minutes later, he is gone. He is not giving in.
Despite his family’s worries, Michelle’s father is adamant about continuing to work hard so that he can support them. Even though he is slowly deteriorating, he has his own kind of optimism and determination to do the things that he wants to do.
Themes
Michelle and Barack begin to speak about their views on marriage. For Michelle, getting married has always been a given. But Barack had always experienced marriage as something temporary, and to him, love is a more important foundation than marriage. Barack sees marriage as the alignment of two lives that are still maintained separately. Michelle sees marriage as a “full-on merger” of two lives into one. She likes the steadiness of the marriage that her parents have.
Michelle introduces the idea that even the concept of marriage is a kind of compromise between her and Barack, as he sees marriage as unnecessary in a loving relationship and she sees it as a crucial commitment to a partnership.
Themes
Before Michelle can make her father’s doctor appointment, he is rushed to the hospital. The doctors tell him that his endocrine system is going “fully haywire.” Michelle, Craig, and Michelle’s mother visit him. When Michelle visits her father ten days into his hospital stay, he is unable to speak. She puts her hand in his, and he kisses it. She knows what he is trying to say: that he is proud of her, that he loves her, and that he knows that he should have gone to the doctor sooner. He is saying goodbye. Michelle leaves the hospital for the night, and when she wakes up, she discovers that her father had a heart attack in the middle of the night and passed away.
Michelle’s sadness over her father’s goodbye and death demonstrates his importance in her life. He sacrificed so much for his children and worked so hard in order to help her succeed. Acknowledging that he is proud of her—even silently—shows that in some way her success provided him with a sense of fulfillment, as well, despite his understanding that he could have done more to live longer.
Themes
