The meaning of Mariah Carey and Unbreakable Mary
Tola's note is a weekly summary of the books I read and some of my general thoughts.
Prologue.
I didn’t write last week because I had not finished the book I started. Last week, I completed the first book and read another. Now, I want to give a summary of what I learned.
The meaning of Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey has a book? That was my first reaction when I stumbled on the title in my search for a new book to read. Mariah has always been an evergreen figure, so present that one would think she dropped into the pot of fame right from birth. Mariah has a skin tone like chocolate with excess milk and any time you see her sing, she looks like a goddess just stepping out of the ocean, with water still dripping from her luscious skin. Apparently, these qualities hide the story of extreme poverty, a tortuous childhood marked by a violent brother that made the home unstable, racism, and an abusive marriage.
The making of Mariah’s story started with the union between Alfred Roy and Patricia Carey, a mixed marriage of a black man and a white woman. I used to think the privileges of a white person carried over to their offsprings so they are spared the racism that black people were subjected to, but apparently, if you had a black father even if you don’t completely carry his shade, you are still a “Nigger” .Mariah had to struggle with this humiliation through her childhood but one thing that never left her was her passion for music. Her mum was a professional Opera singer so she had access to top quality artists to nurture her talents.
One of the joys of reading this book is how I shuffled between it and youtube. Any time she mentioned a song or artist, I’d hurry down to youtube to see a visual representation of what she had described. This made my reading more fulfilling. Actually,I have been doing this for every autobiography I have read but this is the first time I would meet people like myself in a youtube comment section. Joy!
Another thrill to reading autobiographies is getting to see the insane level of work ethic that goes behind the “Overnight” success. Mariah was already a star at age 20. That’s “lucky” in the general sense of things, but if anyone had put in the amount of time and sacrifices she had put in- in her teenage years, it’s possible one would be “Lucky” too. She traveled across cities to record demos to make money(she was very poor), but would be present in class like a regular student along with the rest of her classmates the next day, surviving on less than 2 hours of sleep. The difference is, many of her classmates had wealth to fall back on if things didn’t work in their favor, but her? If she didn’t make it, she’d discover a place lower than rock bottom.
One important thing I learned from her story is the psychology of how women think. 100% of the time, a woman would stick with the man capable of providing safety and provision over just love. This is why a good number of women stay in toxic relationships because of that safety from the rest of the world that they enjoy. I’m happy that Mariah Carey was able to leave hers in the end. I’d recommend you read the book yourself to get all the interesting details about her life.
Unbreakable Mary
I knew nothing about Mary Kom before reading Unbreakable Mary but if you’ve observed my pattern of autobiographies, I enjoy reading stories about sports persons and entertainers probably because I believe these are the two most difficult human endeavors to succeed at. To excel, one needs extreme belief in one’s self, hard work, and impeccable discipline to stay at the top for a long time, and a healthy dose of luck. So naturally, after reading The meaning of Mariah Carey(an entertainer), it made sense to seek the story of a sports person.
Mary Kom is a boxer of Indian origin. She is the first olympic medalist for women’s boxing from India and the first boxer in history to win 6 of 7 world championships titles that she participated in. Mary was from a very humble background, probably the poorest person’s story that I have ever read that succeeded. This is the beauty of reading autobiographies. When you think life has dealt you the worst background in the history of circumstances, there’s someone out there that came from a worse position than yours and still made it. Mary Kom is one such person. She grew up in one of the remotest villages and had to work very hard on her parents' farm every morning, took care of her siblings, before walking very long distances to catch up to school.
This hectic work schedule helped her develop endurance for when she transitioned into boxing. Boxing was her only path to financial freedom. This was a literal fight for your life scenario. If she failed at boxing, she was going to be married off and her hardship would continue. One interesting thing I noted was the support she got from her parents to help her with fighting gears.
Even though her parents supported because they loved her and wanted to support her ambition, it felt like they really had no other choice in the matter. If they refused to help her pursue her dreams, there was no way out of their penury. But working extra hard to support Mary gave them a fighting chance for a soft life. One must applaud them because success wasn’t a guarantee. Given the nature of boxing, the chances of success are very minute even given the best support. Very few people make it to the top. What this means is, even though they had to work extra hard to provide for Mary, their daughter may still have not made it. If they had a small mind, they could have used the extra income they made to put food on the table and also would have avoided the embarrassment Mary’s siblings faced when they were chased from school due to late fees. They even sold their family cow to help her pursue her boxing dreams. I am glad Mary made it and set them up for life.