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Chapter 17
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
Four months later, on November 4, 2008, Michelle casts her vote for Barack. As she stands in the booth, she is amazed that, after years of campaigning, this is the last thing she has to do. When she pauses, contemplating, Barack jokingly wonders if she needs a little more time to make up her mind.
This day is another turning point for Michelle: she doesn’t have the same kind of pressure placed on her after election day. But at the same time, her responsibility to Barack and the American people is only beginning.
Themes
The polls show Barack ahead, but Michelle worries about the Bradley effect, named for an African American candidate named Tom Bradley who had been leading in the polls for a California governor race but had lost on election day. The theory is that, for minority candidates, voters often hide their prejudice from pollsters, expressing it only in the voting booth.
Although the Bradley effect does not end up coming into play during Barack’s election, Michelle will turn to it when she points out how sexism affected the 2016 election, when prejudice plays a deep role in electing Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton.
Themes
The general campaign had not been as grueling as the primaries. John McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin, had become a national lightning rod, and disaster had struck when the U.S. economy began to spiral out of control. Michelle knows that Barack is the right person to take on the job at this moment, but he will inherit a mess.
Barack knows that while he will immediately be thrust into a position of both power and privilege, he will have the responsibility of fixing a sinking economy that is decimating many people’s personal finances.
Themes
Michelle catches a moment for herself and sneaks upstairs—only to find Barack. He had received news only the day before that his grandmother, Toot, had passed away in Hawaii after being sick for months. He assures Michelle that he’s doing okay, and Michelle tells him that she’s proud of him, no matter what happens.
Barack is also quickly discovering, and will continue to discover, how any aspect of his personal life will quickly be consumed by his duty to the American people. Despite his deep sadness at his grandmother’s passing, he must continue to hold himself up on election day.
Themes
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The results start coming in at 6:00pm. A few states go for McCain, but more start to go to Barack. Illinois goes to Barack. Michelle, Malia, Sasha, and Michelle’s mother wait with Barack as the updates trickle in. They are both struck by the fact that he is about to be elected leader of the free world, yet he is still only human—a vulnerable man about to become very lonely.
Just like Michelle, Barack has gone through his own personal evolution. Even though he has always been optimistic, this election represents an enormous step of growth for him as he takes the weight of the nation on his shoulders. Michelle describes how he finds immense fulfillment in the role, but it is also a heavy burden to bear.
Themes
At ten o’clock, the networks begin to announce that Barack will become the forty-fourth president. Everyone starts to cheer and yell. It is surreal. They drive to Grant Park for his speech, shocked to see that the Secret Service has cleared the street (standard only for a president). When they arrive, 200,000 people have come to see him speak. Barack, Michelle, Malia, and Sasha walk out onto the stage, standing before “a giant, jubilant mass of Americans who were also palpably reflective.” And they had also been waiting—they had been waiting “a long, long time.”
Despite their worries and the immense amount of criticism that the pair of them faced, Barack’s election does represent something incredibly symbolic. Even though it does not signify the beginning of a “postracial era,” as some commentators declare, Barack’s election as the first black president does symbolize a degree of progress that many—including Michelle, at first—did not believe was possible at the time.
Themes
