<P> The end of the book finds Rita defeated by life: "For the first time I sat down defenseless to await life's next assault". The book ends with an encounter with a drug addict who cared enough for her to show her the effects of his drug habit, which galvanizes her to reject drug addiction and to make something of her life for her and her son . </P> <P> Beginning in Gather Together, motherhood and family issues are important themes throughout Angelou's autobiographies . The book describes the change and the importance of Rita's relationship with her own mother, the woman who had abandoned her and her brother as children, demonstrated by Rita's return to her mother at the end of the book, "after she realizes how close to the edge she has come, as a woman and as a mother". Vivian Baxter cares for Rita's young son as Rita attempts to make a living . Critic Mary Jane Lupton states that "one gets a strong sense throughout Gather Together of (Rita's) dependence on her mother". Critic Lyman B. Hagen remarks that Angelou's relationship with her mother becomes more important in Gather Together, and that Vivian is now more influential in the development of Angelou's attitudes . Lupton calls Clyde's kidnapping a "powerful sequence of mother - loss" and connects it to the kidnapping of Clyde's son in the 1980s . Angelou has compared the production of this book to giving birth, an apt metaphor given the birth of her son at the end of Caged Bird . Like many authors, Angelou views the creative writing process and its results as her children . </P> <P> Angelou's goal, beginning with her first autobiography, was to "tell the truth about the lives of black women", but her goal evolved, in her later volumes, to document the ups and downs of her own life . Angelou's autobiographies have the same structure: they give a historical overview of the places she was living in at the time, how she coped within the context of a larger white society, and the ways that her story played out within that context . Critic Selwyn Cudjoe stated that in Gather Together, Angelou is still concerned with the questions of what it means to be a Black female in the US, but focuses upon herself at a certain point in history, in the years immediately following World War II . The book begins with a prologue describing the confusion and disillusionment of the African - American community during that time, which matched the alienated and fragmented nature of the main character's life . According to McPherson, African Americans were promised a new racial order that did not materialize . </P> <P> Halfway through Gather Together, an incident occurs that demonstrates the different ways in which Rita and her grandmother handle racism . Rita, when she is insulted by white clerk during a visit to Stamps, reacts with defiance, but when Momma hears about the confrontation, she slaps Rita and sends her back to California . Rita feels that her personhood was being violated, but the practical Momma knows that her granddaughter's behavior was dangerous . Rita's grandmother is no longer an important influence on her life, and Angelou demonstrates that she had to move on in the fight against racism . </P>

Gather together in my name maya angelou summary