The Princeton admission
When Michelle finds herself admitted to Princeton University, that symbolizes academic power that she suspected of herself, but the admission makes her academic skill somewhat official. She determines from that point to strive for absolute excellence, and through her education at Princeton, Michelle Obama was able to attain acceptance to law school at Harvard. This has allegorical value because she is explaining how she positioned herself in a life of authority around powerful people.
Law school at Harvard
Law school changes Michelle Obama's trajectory in life. She becomes a junior lawyer at a prestigious firm, demonstrating that she is capable of greatness. To the reader, this can be seen as a major insight to her character because law is an incredibly particular discipline which requires outstanding memory, comprehension, and rhetorical ability. What this means to her life is that Michelle Obama had become a game changer at a young age. She is certainly not a first lady who belongs in the shadows; her power is what draws her and Barrack Obama together, which is indicative of his own personality because they are compatible.
Barack Obama
When Michelle met Barrack Obama, he was not a president of the United States of course. He was a mostly unknown lawyer at Sidley Austin with a reputation for fierce law practice and incisive rhetoric. Their romantic season is covered in the book, and the flavor of their romance is certainly impressive—they are a power couple in the grand scheme of things, even before this former president made his entry into politics. She writes about a different version of Barrack Obama than the version that most people understand through his political career.
George Bush Jr
One of the most poignant moments in this memoir occurs when former president George Bush Jr. becomes friends with the Obama family during their transition. Instead of allowing their various political alliances to matter in their personal lives, they become intimate friends sharing the burdens and struggles of life in the public eye. As a politician, no two men could be more different than Bush and Obama, but in their personal lives, they are peaceful and very friendly. The allegory concept offered here is to prize personal relationships above political opinion; no one had more reason to be political than they, but still they chose friendship.
The motif of attention
The memoir evolves as the story carries Michelle Obama through her marriage, through her husband's entry into politics, and into the White House. She explains the details of what that is like for a human being to endure. She says that she and her family endure the presidents terms in office while also trying to be a family and survive the onslaught of criticism and attention they receive. She tells about what it was like to raise two teenage daughters with that level of scrutiny, and there is no mistaking it; she is clear that this attention caused her family much suffering, a sacrifice the entire family made together.
