The American Past written by the

Last year, Michelle Obama, the former first lady of the United States, published her autobiographical memoir Becoming, with 35 million copies in print initially around the world. Fifteen days after the publication of the English edition, the book broke the sales record and became one of the best-selling books in the United States in 2018. Recently, the Chinese version of the memoir has been published, the relevant contents of which have been compiled by many publishing companies,including the New York Times Chinese Network, the Guardian and the New Beijing Newspaper Review Weekly and so forth.

In this memoir, Michelle Obama recalls her experience of growing up, from her childhood in southern Chicago to a professional woman who found it hard to balance work and family, as  as well as her eight years in the White House.

Being the first African-American First Lady, she particularly described the ups and downs of the eight-year presidency of Barack Obama, such as how Barack Obama sought comfort from her when he learned of the Sandy Hook massacre in the new town of Connecticut, and how he had told her about the success of his mission to kill Osama bin Laden.

”In addition, she criticizes the current US President Trump in her book. Trump, she wrote, was a "misogynist" and a "bully". She will never forgive Trump for questioning Obama's origins during his campaign and for this reason, he hold the belief that Obama wasn't qualified to be a legitimate American president. This puts Mr. Obama's family security at risk. Still, Michelle states in his book, "I've never been a political enthusiast, and the experience of the past decade has hardly changed that."

Afua Hirsch, a Guardian journalist and former lawyer, made a comment that "First Lady" is an embarrassing concept for feminists. Although this is a high-ranking position involving women, the first lady's "success" has always been questionable because the position depends on her husband's status.

”But Michelle Obama's experience evidently defused this embarrassment wonderfully. Michelle wrote, "I feel humble and excited to be the first lady, but I never think for a second that I can automatically be a charming, relaxing character." Besides, "I can't imagine being a first lady or a black lady."

It is commented  that in today's thought of racist trend , Michelle and Barack Obama have become a representative narrative of the "American Dream". Michelle became the "First Lady" , which didn't undermine the dignity of women, but set a "model" for American women.

These are some analyses of Michelle Obama's autobiographical memoir Becomimg, hoping to inspire you.