Dreams occur throughout Coming of Age in Mississippi. The book opens with one: “I’m still haunted by dreams of the time we lived on Mr. Carter’s plantation” (11). Moody then goes on to describe bullying by her uncle George Lee and the beating she got when he lied and blamed her for the house fire. Her parents also separate while living on the Carter land. The next dream happens when Raymond wants the entire family to help with chopping cotton. Moody dreams of heat overcoming her in the field, and all her family members lie dead between the rows; she knows that she is next. Another dream turns out to be real—Moody wakes up from a dream full of screaming to realize that the Taplin house is on fire and that the whole family has perished. Many of the dreams Moody has in childhood reflect her helplessness; she has no way to defend herself from George Lee or not to work in Raymond’s cotton field. When Moody discovers that the screaming nightmare is actually a waking-life event, she recognizes more deeply her own helplessness and that of her fellow Negroes at the hands of white people.

Moody’s positive dreams are few and far between.