Becoming

Obama suggests that “becoming” someone is a lifelong process of evolution and formation, without a fixed endpoint. She notes this idea as early as the Preface, when she writes that growing up is not “finite” (ix), and shoots down the idea that “at some point you become something and that’s the end” (ix). Obama further signals the centrality of the process of “becoming” to her autobiography through the title and section titles she uses.

Insecurity is an omnipresent aspect of Obama’s process of formation and evolution. Throughout the book, Obama reverts to a familiar question: “Am I good enough?” Often italicized in the original text, she grapples with the question even as she achieves remarkable accomplishments: she attends a magnet high school, Princeton, and Harvard; secures a position as a young lawyer at a fancy firm; speaks on the presidential campaign trail; and is the First...