Barack Obama’s autobiography, Dreams from My Father (1995)
Based on Barack Obama’s autobiography, Dreams from My Father (1995).
Write a 5 page paper exploring the various ways in which Barack Obama constructed his persona. You might consider:

• Race: how did Obama want others to perceive his views on race?
• Nation and History: how did he want others to perceive his views about America and American history?
• Class: how did he want others to perceive his views about class?
• Growing up: how did he want others to perceive his experiences growing up?
• Elite: how did he want others to perceive the fact that he attended elite schools? Consider, what an author does not say is as important as what he does say.
• Identity: how did he want others to perceive his beliefs? Through much of the work, Obama presents himself as struggling to find his beliefs. He tries Marxism but abandons it. What beliefs does he seem to embrace near the end, if any?
• The book was published in 1995, long before he became president. In reading it, you might do some research on Obama’s life before 1995 and then consider what Obama did not include in his autobiography and why.