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FAILURES OF AMERICAN SOCIETY.
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Discussion of failure of U.S. to deliver its promises to citizens as recounted in Ron Kovic's "BORN ON THE 4TH OF JULY" & Anne Moody's COMING OF AGE IN MISSISSIPPI."... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Discussion of failure of U.S. to deliver its promises to citizens as recounted in Ron Kovic's "BORN ON THE 4TH OF JULY" & Anne Moody's COMING OF AGE IN MISSISSIPPI."

Paper Introduction:
The backgrounds and experiences of Ron Kovic, as recounted in his book Born on the Fourth of July, and Anne Moody, told in her book Coming of Age in Mississippi, are quite different, yet both are radicalized as they find gaps in American society and in the failure of that society to deliver on its promises to its citizens. Ron Kovic grew up in Massapequa, New York, a while boy in a white neighborhood in the 1950s, an era looked back on with nostalgia by many, including Kovic himself. His father was a checker in a supermarket. Kovic remembers trips to the city, movies he saw, the thrill of hearing about early space explorations, and other events of the 1950s and early 1960s. Kovic's story divides around his own physical state -- his childhood was a time of athletics, while much later he is bound

Text of the Paper:
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I wanted to make something out of my life" (Kovic73). Therewere really two levels to the tensions of the 196 s, one politically andsocially directed toward effecting major changes and toward improvingAmerican life according to the tenets of the movement involved, and theother an imitation of aspects of the counterculture, aspects directed moretoward shocking the establishment than to effecting change, and based moreon hedonistic and selfish desires than on any desire to make relevant andlasting change. The levels were not always distinguished from one anotherand indeed not always distinguishable from one another, and the extinctionof many of the large, overt aspects of the movement should not be mistakenfor extinction of the whole movement or its aims. Theexperience of blacks in the North would be different in degree if not inkind, with racism on a different level. A related front developed with thegrowing opposition to the war, manifested in the streets by demonstrations. Moody's background leads her to the Civil RightsMovement and to such organizations as the NAACP and CORE. Such a book is written after the fact andso includes some distortions based on memory as well as on later attitudeswhich color original perceptions as described by the writer. The War in Vietnam was a war which more than anybefore took place in two places at once -- on the battlefield and in theAmerican home by way of television. New York: Pocket Books, 1976.Moody, Anne, Coming of Age in Mississippi. She becomes very aware of why as she grows to adulthood and sees moreand more racism all around her. Moody channels her own anger into the movement,much as Kovic does into the antiwar movement. Born on the Fourth of July. What Kovic tells recalls much of what occurredduring and after the Vietnam War. They feeldeeply the offenses of their age, and they do something about it by usingtheir anger as a source for efforts at reform. Thedividing point is the War in Vietnam. His father was a checker in a supermarket. Moody is clearly shaped by her ethnicheritage, her poverty as a child, the fact that she grew up in the South,and the racism of the time, but Kovic was just as shaped by his childhood.It was their later experiences that redirected their energies. As a youngster, Kovic had dreams ofself-improvement, noting that he did not want to be like his father: "Iwanted to be somebody. Kovic joins the Marines, eager to fight for his country, so imbuedwith patriotic fervor that he stands for "The Star-Spangled Banner" afterthe late movie on his last night as a civilian. These survived in avariety of ways into the early 197 s. Moody discovers the reform movement in a racist moment when she isworking for Mrs. Burke and hears the word "nigger" from the other room, aswell as some talk about the NAACP as if it were a subversive organization:"Because they were talking about niggers, I knew NAACP had something to dowith Negroes" (Moody 126). This sense of anger is what has driven most reformers. Her experiences clearly gave her a sense of the need for reform,though it did not necessarily engender in her a feeling of the possibilityof reform. I knew thatwe were going to separate schools and all, but I never knew why" (Moody38). Once therewas an outlet, these blacks joined the movement and would become energizedby its successes. Kovic tells his own story, but his time in the Marines and in Vietnamis told in the third person, as if he were watching someone else live thisportion of his life. After all, we were playing together. The opposition to the war could be traced back to the late 196 s. Her awareness ofthe reason for this is something that does not come all at once, as can beseen when she talks about the white children who played in front of herhouse and what happened in the white lobby: "Up until that time I had neverreally thought about it. She goes to the movies andfinds what happens when blacks go into the white lobby. The injustices had been part of the black experience from thefirst when blacks were brought here as slaves, and Moody's experience seemstypical of the blacks of her class and her geographical location. Ron Kovic grew up in Massapequa, New York, a while boy in a whiteneighborhood in the 195 s, an era looked back on with nostalgia by many,including Kovic himself. After Kennedy is killed in1963, she withdraws into herself for a while, but when she sees that shehas to do something, she joins a voter registration drive for CORE. The primary motivator for thecounter-culture in the latter years of the decade was the Vietnam War.What started as largely a counter-culture political theme began finally toseep into the national consciousness at the end of the 196 s and beginningof the 197 s. Moody's account certainlymirrors the experience of millions of other blacks of her era, blacks whowere born into an age that seemed to accept the role it had been given insociety but who changed their attitudes as they were discriminated againstand beaten and treated to one racist incident after another. Such an account may or may not be representative, however, andthis must be considered carefully when using autobiography as a source foranalyzing the meaning of events. She discovers the secret of the Negroeswho were found floating from time to time in the river, their bodiesriddled with bullets (Moody 121). Kovic is male, a soldier, a wounded man, a paraplegic, and white.Anne Moody is none of these things. He no longer sees the war as correct, and heprotests from his wheelchair and is treated like a pariah by those on theother side. The racism of the age is something shebecomes aware of slowly when she is a child. The backgrounds and experiences of Ron Kovic, as recounted in hisbook Born on the Fourth of July, and Anne Moody, told in her book Coming ofAge in Mississippi, are quite different, yet both are radicalized as theyfind gaps in American society and in the failure of that society to deliveron its promises to its citizens. What Moodyrecounts fits with what we know of the experience of blacks in the Southduring this period and also reflects the way the movement developed slowly,gathering steam with different incidents and events until it was a majorforce in American life. Thisis again an example of her channeling her anger into a useful task, just asKovic finds a way to channel his own anger and frustrations. Indeed, violence is a part of herchildhood and of the black experience as she sees it, and this is broughthome to her when Sam O'Quinn is murdered: "His death brought back memoriesof all the other killings, beatings, and abuses inflicted upon Negroes bywhites" (Moody 187). Moody's Southern Baptistupbringing is also typical of her geographic region, and she seems verymuch a product of the time and place in which she was raised. Autobiography as a source for history can provide a specific view ofevents and a strong sense of the social attitudes and behaviors of realpeople. The urban as opposed to ruralexperience would also be somewhat different. Works CitedKovic, Ron. Moody presents her view of theproblems of her time and shows her answers to those problems in the reformmovements she joined and the efforts she made to change the situation.This both reflects general trends in her time and also contrasts with theexperiences of some other reformers of the age who had their own answers tothe same problems. She experienced theracism of the time directly and intimately, and she was part of ageneration that reaped the legacy of slavery and the failed promise ofemancipation directly as well. New York: Del Books, 1968. She grew up inthe rural South as a young woman both black and poor. Kovic returns home with a different mindset than the youngman who joined the Marines. Kovic found that for this war, returning veterans, disabled ornot, were not treated as well as had veterans of earlier wars. Kovicremembers trips to the city, movies he saw, the thrill of hearing aboutearly space explorations, and other events of the 195 s and early 196 s.Kovic's story divides around his own physical state -- his childhood was atime of athletics, while much later he is bound to a wheelchair.

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