Chapter 6 ends with Obama's description of a dream he had about his father. What do you understand about this dream? How does this dream reflect a change in Obama's attitude towards his father?

Obama had a dream about his father about a year after his death. When he woke up, Obama realized that Obama Sr.'s "strong image had given [him] some bulwark on which to grow up, an image to live up to, or disappoint" (132). Obama had no idea who he was without that image in his life.

From this point forward in his life, Obama ceased to identify primarily as Ann or his father's son. He instead seized on an identity as an African American, believing that service to that community and living in that community would overcome any lack of racial authenticity he felt as a multiracial person and the descendent of people who were never enslaved in the United States.