Becoming

94 pages • 3 hours read

Becoming

Michelle ObamaNonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2018

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Introduction

Before Reading

During Reading

After Reading

During Reading

Reading Questions & Paired Texts

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

PREFACE-PART 1, CHAPTER 2

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Reading Check

1. In what profession did Michelle express an interest as a child, according to what she told adults?

2. What is the name of the little girl that teases Michelle every time she goes to Euclid Parkway?

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Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. In the Preface, Michelle describes the numerous—sometimes conflicting—ways she has been received by the public at large. What are some examples of this?

2. How does Michelle show she is a “natural-born lawyer” while learning the piano from her great-aunt Robbie?

Paired Resource

“From Michelle Obama’s Humble Chicago Upbringing to the White House: Part 1”

In this video, ABC News interviews Michelle Obama as they revisit her childhood home on the South Side of Chicago.
Obama reflects upon her childhood experiences and the ways in which her parents taught her the connections between Race, Privilege, and Access to Opportunities.
Why might Obama include anecdotes from her childhood that may be viewed as less-than-flattering in Becoming? How does this contribute to the book’s overall messages regarding personal evolution?

PART 1, CHAPTERS 3-5

Reading Check

1. Michelle makes a plan over the phone to meet up with her childhood crush to kiss. What is his name?

2. To what city do her parents insist Michelle travel, though they have never been to Europe themselves?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Michelle’s older brother Craig is afraid of different disasters, but he is especially afraid of fire. Why does fire frighten him so badly?

2. In reflecting as an adult on her parents’ marriage, Michelle reveals her mother Marian’s contemplations about leaving Fraser. What does Michelle learn from this situation?

PART 1, CHAPTERS 6-8

Reading Check

1. In what organization at Princeton does Michelle find her close group of friends?

2. What decision does her college boyfriend Kevin make that Michelle thinks is irresponsible?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Though Michelle loves attending Princeton, why does she envy her friend Santita at Howard University?

2. What are Michelle’s initial impressions of Barack? How do her impressions change?

Paired Resource

“Michelle Obama on Meeting Barack”

In this interview for CBS This Morning, Michelle Obama recounts her initial impressions of Barack Obama with Gayle King.
Obama admits how she thought that Barack’s race may have influenced how he was perceived by white partners at the law firm.
How does this anecdote connect to the book’s theme of The Importance of One’s Own Story? How does Obama’s tone in this interview compare to her tone with personal anecdotes in the text?

PART 2, CHAPTERS 9-11

Reading Check

1. Of what publication is Barack appointed the first Black editor?

2. To what African country do Barack and Michelle take a trip to visit Barack’s half sister and grandmother?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. When Michelle joins the recruitment team for the law firm, what are some of the dynamics that she sees at play firsthand?

2. How does the death of Michelle’s father spur a series of changes in her life, as described in Chapters 9-11?

PART 2, CHAPTERS 12-14

Reading Check

1. Michelle describes Barack’s involvement with a campaign trying to get unregistered Black voters to vote in the upcoming election. What is this campaign called?

2. With what organization that trains people to go into public service and nonprofit work does Michelle take a new job?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Michelle initially worry about regarding Barack going into politics?

2. How does becoming a mother affect Michelle’s other career goals? How does it affect her feelings about Barack’s career pursuits?

PART 2, CHAPTERS 15-17

Reading Check

1. Via what means does Barack Obama call for uniting the country in his 2004 Democratic National Convention speech?

2. By what nickname does the campaign team begin referring to Michelle, due to her ability to sway those who are undecided to Barack’s side?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Describe the moment when Michelle decides to fully commit to Barack’s presidential campaign.

2. Why do Barack and Michelle regret allowing Malia and Sasha do a TV interview with them?

PART 2, CHAPTER 18-PART 3, CHAPTER 20

Reading Check

1. What family member passes away the day before the election?

2. What faux pas does Michelle commit when she meets the Queen of England?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is Michelle’s familial tradition around voting?

2. What are some of the many adjustments that the Obamas must make upon settling in at the White House?

Paired Resource

“Michelle Obama Turned the ‘Angry Black Woman’ Trope Upside Down”

Michele L. Norris of The Washington Post provides an op-ed explaining how Michelle Obama combatted stereotypes with the phrase: “It is what it is.” (Subscription may be needed to view.)
The phrase, Norris writes, asserted Obama’s agency and power, thus allowing her to fight harmful racist prejudices.
How is a prejudice a kind of “story” that other people tell about a marginalized group? How might this phrase have helped Michelle Obama take control of the media’s narrative about her, as First Lady and as a woman?

PART 3, CHAPTERS 21-23

Reading Check

1. What are two of the four types of big cats featured in Michelle’s stress dream?

2. What terrible tragedy occurs in Connecticut shortly after Barack is re-elected President?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does Michelle use the public’s interest in her clothing to help further social progress? What does this say about her character, in general?

2. What causes the tragic death of Hadiya Pendleton, and why is Michelle particularly moved by the tragedy?

Paired Resource

“What Michelle Obama Wore and Why it Mattered”

This New York Times piece from 2017 examines not only the diverse designers that Michelle Obama helped to uplift with her clothing choices, but also how her sense of style embodied humility, diversity, and grace. (Subscription may be needed to view.)
This article’s content suggests the ways in which Obama’s fashion choices also served as commentary on Race, Privilege, and Access to Opportunities.
Do you think fashion choices should matter in the political realm? In what ways is a First Lady’s fashion sense important to you (or not)?

PART 3, CHAPTER 24-EPILOGUE

Reading Check

1. Which members of the Obama family are “impervious to criticism and unaware of their own fame” (Chapter 24)?

2. What is the name of Michelle’s initiative that advocates for women’s education throughout the world?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. In the Epilogue, what does Michelle say about exiting the White House that touches upon the theme of Becoming?

Recommended Next Reads

The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times by Michelle Obama

The Light We Carry is the follow-up to Becoming in which Obama shares practical advice and key strategies for helping overcome life’s challenges.
The book endorses personal agency as one of the main ways to cultivate resilience. Personal agency is intimately related to the idea of The Importance of One’s Own Story in Becoming.
Drawing from her own personal experiences, including some of those first discussed in Becoming, Obama provides profound advice to navigate the turbulence of the world.
The Light We Carry on SuperSummary

Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter

This book combines the libretto of Hamilton with numerous footnotes and other ephemera from the play, giving readers a behind-the-scenes peek at the play as a stage production and cultural artifact.
Hamilton recasts American history from a new perspective. As such, it implicitly asserts the Importance of One’s Own Story.
Michelle Obama mentions that she has a special connection to Hamilton for its diverse cast and helping the public at large understand minorities’ role in America’s national history.
Hamilton on SuperSummary

Reading Questions Answer Key

PREFACE-PART 1, CHAPTER 2

Reading Check

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1. A pediatrician (Preface)

2. DeeDee (Chapter 2)

Short Answer

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1. Michelle has been praised, but she’s also been critiqued and scrutinized. She has been propped up as the most powerful woman in the world, but she has been disparaged as an “angry Black woman.” (Preface)

2. Robbie instructs Michelle to learn only one song at a time; however, Michelle ignores this advice and plays ahead. This causes Michelle and Robbie to argue, but Michelle does not give in. Her relentlessness is very lawyer-like. (Chapter 1)

PART 1, CHAPTERS 3-5

Reading Check

1. Ronnell (Chapter 4)

2. Paris (Chapter 5)

Short Answer

1. Craig is especially afraid of fire because it has proven to be a realistic danger; their neighborhood, filled with older wooden structures that often have no smoke detectors, sees house fires occasionally. In one tragedy, three classmates die in a house fire. Michelle and Craig run fire drills and create plans to help Fraser, whose MS is worsening over time, escape a fire. (Chapter 3)

2. As an adult, Michelle realizes that even happy marriages have their trying, challenging moments. She sees it as “a contract best renewed and renewed again, even quietly and privately—even alone.” (Chapter 4)

PART 1, CHAPTERS 6-8

Reading Check

1. The Third World Center (Chapter 6)

2. He decides to become a mascot. (Chapter 7)

Short Answer

1. Because Howard is a historically Black college, Santita does not feel isolated by her race, as Michelle does. What’s more, she does not need to experience the “everyday drain” that comes from being a minority. (Chapter 7)

2. Barack Obama’s characteristics are initially non-remarkable to Michelle, and he does not make much of an overall impression. When she gets to know him, however, she realizes that he is self-assured, poised, and intelligent. She is intrigued by his family and career background as she learns more. (Chapter 8)

PART 2, CHAPTERS 9-11

Reading Check

1. Harvard Law Review (Chapter 10)

2. Kenya (Chapter 11)

Short Answer

1. She notices that inherent superiority does not seem to influence hiring decisions so much as advantages at birth. She sees a “circular process” at the law firm: Lawyers hire lawyers with similar experiences and background, “leaving little room for diversity of any sort.” (Chapter 9)

2. She realizes that she craves stability, particularly with the people she loves, and therefore is eager to enter into a marriage with Barack. She also realizes that life is too short to stay in a job she doesn’t like, so she begins seeking new career opportunities. (Chapters 9-11)

PART 2, CHAPTERS 12-14

Reading Check

1. Project VOTE! (Chapter 12)

2. Public Allies (Chapter 13)

Short Answer

1. She worries that his optimism and spirit will suffer as a result of the challenges of politics. She ultimately realizes, though, that nothing will stop him. (Chapter 13)

2. Michelle struggles to balance her role as mother with her desire to work and create change in the community. Initially, she works a part-time job, but ends up feeling pulled in too many directions. Though she supports Barack, she also feels a sense of envy after she became a mother, since he is free to pursue his career goals unencumbered. (Chapter 14)

PART 2, CHAPTERS 15-17

Reading Check

1. “By a common humanity” (Chapter 15)

2. “Closer” (Chapter 16)

Short Answer

1. It happens at Barack’s campaign rally. When Michelle sees the crowd’s overwhelming support in her family, she realizes his bid for the presidency is truly important. (Chapter 16)

2. The girls fall under public scrutiny, which Barack and Michelle realize may not be good for their mental health. They regret allowing the girls to enter the public sphere before they could really understand what was going on. (Chapter 17)

PART 2, CHAPTER 18-PART 3, CHAPTER 20

Reading Check

1. Barack’s grandmother (Chapter 18)

2. Michelle touches her. (Chapter 20)

Short Answer

1. When she was young, Michelle’s parents took her to the polls with them. Now, mother to Malia and Sasha, she brings them to the polls; they are present when Michelle casts her vote for Barack to become President of the United States. (Chapter 18)

2. As President, Barack tends to the economic crisis. The girls start a new school, and the family must become accustomed to the many secret-service agents (20 vehicles, a helicopter, and more).

PART 3, CHAPTERS 21-23

Reading Check

1. A lion, a tiger, a panther, and a cheetah (Chapter 22)

2. The Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings (Chapter 23)

Short Answer

1. Michelle uses the public’s interest in her clothing to showcase up-and-coming and diverse clothing designers. This demonstrates Michelle’s deep commitment to social justice and her ability to think creatively to find strategies and solutions. (Chapter 21)

2. Hadiya Pendleton came from a background similar to Michelle’s. As a young Chicago girl, she demonstrated great potential, but she was wrongfully murdered by two men who mistook her for a gang member. (Chapter 23)

PART 3, CHAPTER 24-EPILOGUE

Reading Check

1. Their dogs (Chapter 24)

2. Let Girls Learn (Chapter 24)

Short Answer

1. Michelle is disheartened by the lack of diversity on the incoming Trump staff but realizes she, like many, are “still in progress” in terms of personal fulfillment, work for the greater good, and life goals; she resolves to continue to better herself for the good of those for whom she works. (Epilogue)