Barack Obama II

Barack Obama II is the first person of African descent to serve as the president of the United States. As the narrator of this memoir, Obama represents the evolution of his identity from innocent childhood to self-aware adulthood. Coming to terms with his relationship with his father and his racial identity are the central elements of this evolution.

Obama's childhood was a cosmopolitan one that included time in Indonesia and grade school and high school in Hawaii. Obama characterizes himself as a child who was able to adapt to the many changes that came with moving so frequently but also as an outsider who was never sure of where he fit in. A visit from Obama Sr. when Obama was ten brought into sharp focus the fact that he was growing up without his father.

As a teen growing up without a father and living...