Analysis Of The Book ' Between The World And Me '

There have been many novels written about the experience of being born black in America but only so few have been able to give the reader a vivid point of view of what African Americans have gone through for generations. The book “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates is a very sympathetic letter to his fifth teen year old son Samori. Coates explains his experiences in the past on how being born into the world as a “Black Body” is considered as a disadvantage in America. Coates grew up with strict parents that were consistently keeping a keen eye on him always having his father constantly beating him and an always anxious mother. But as he grew older and had a son of his own he then realized the reasons behind his parent’s actions.

Coates provides readers with a lesson in American history and explains to his son that race is not reality, but that “Americans believe in the reality of ‘race’ as a defined, indubitable feature of the natural world” (Coates 2015; 7) He brings the reader inside the America in which he lives. He argues that “America’s problem is not its betrayal of ‘government of the people,’ but the means by which ‘the people’ acquired their names,” meaning that America has only ever represented and supported white people, that America was founded on a system of racial bias (6). He draws attention to the struggles that peoples of color, especially black people, have faced. Those struggles generate fear, which is one of the main ideas in the

America is supposed to be the land of opportunities. A place where you are free to do anything and become whoever you want to be but this does not apply to everyone. One of the reasons for Coates disagreement is the permanent racial injustice in America. People might think that the war between black and white people is over but this is not true. Daily, we can see many cases about racial injustice like when a white man with power treats other black workers as if they were inferior to him. Not only white people treat black people this way but there are many other cases in which you can see black folks discriminate white folks and this can also be seen through public media. Coates thinks that the war between black people and white people will be a permanent one, and because of this, he is also afraid that his son needs to be more prepared for the

“Last Sunday the host of a popular news show asked me what it meant to lose my body”(Coates 5). The phrase “lose my body” is reiterated numerous times in Between The World And Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. The topic/theme of this piece of literature may be discernable as innocence as Ta-Nehisi profusely speaks of how his upbringing changed and affected his perspective on life. Coates uses a multitude of examples to portray this from how he witnessed another boy almost being shot at a young age to him learning and understanding the laws and “culture of the streets”(Coates 24) as who and even more who not to mess with(Coates 23). Coates effectively uses these examples as perfect representations of living in an American ghetto as well as how since birth blacks do not “own” their body and are susceptible to lose it.

“If you were black you were born in Jail” a references from a writer Malcolm X, Coates identified these words to the way the United states treated African American. He describes the mistreatment of African American to be uncalled for, realizing that we live in a white world not mixed society. Minorities live in a place where they fear, where they are not in control of their own bodies. Coates states that because of the color of our skin we are not free, we are may accomplish things in the long run but bias is everywhere and in any given time a life can be taken away and it is not in our control. Coates title “between the world and me” is a great demonstration to what he goes through as a man of color. We see that the theme he was going for was

“And one morning while in the woods I stumbled suddenly/ Stumbled upon it in a grassy clearing guarded by scaly oaks / and elms / And the sooty details of the scene rose, thrusting themselves / between the world and me…” This is the epigraph to Coates’s work. He explains he wants to find out what actually exists between the world and himself. He begins by asserting that America has always had a problem with race, but not quite in the way people assume. He says racism created race, not the other way around. American history is general with examples of people who were once not considered white – the Irish, the Jews, the Russians, Catholics – but now are. Race is not a positive reality of America; it has been constructed, altered, and reinforced. Whiteness is not just skin color or hair color; it is fashioned out of “the pillaging of life, liberty, labor, and land; through the flaying of backs, the chaining of limbs; the strangling of dissidents; the destruction of families; the rape of mothers; the sale of children; and various other acts meant, first and foremost, to deny you and me the right to secure and govern our own bodies” (8). America is not the only country to do this, of course, but what is so problematic is its hypocrisy; it claims to be a champion of

Coates reveals that he understands the reality of black men in America. “Ethos is a rhetorical device through the author reveals his or her creditability to discuss the topic at hand.” (Kemp13). Coates shows throughout part one that he truly understand what it is like to live as a black man in America today. “ To be black in Baltimore of my youth was to be naked before the elements of the world, before all the guns, fists, knives, crack, rape, and disease.” (Coates 17). Coates displays that growing up black in Baltimore was a true challenge due to the racism, even before all the violence was added. Coates builds his credibility by giving the

The novel starts with Coates addressing his son, Samori.He begins recounting a time when he was invited on a talk show and the host asked him what it meant to lose his body, looking for an explanation as to why Coates “felt that white America’s progress, or rather the progress of those Americans who believe that they are white, was built on looting and violence.” This turned out to be a very heavy, intense, and loaded question. Coates went on to explain to his son that America was built on the oppression, abuse, and exploitation of black people, of their bodies, which only intensifies the hypocrisy of the democratic foundation that America prides itself on. The recent murders of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Renisha McBride, and other black people and “the destroyers who were rarely held accountable” prove that the disregard and mutilation of black bodies is embedded in America’s DNA, and no one gives it a second thought. The American “dream” that is built on the purity and innocence of wanting happiness was only ever made plausible by the oppression of black people, who still struggle to achieve that dream because they were abused into a life of silence and fear. “The Dream rests on their backs, the bedding made from their bodies.” Coates went on to explain how this history of exploitation and the fear that’s been rooted into the lives of black people in America followed him throughout his schooling and on the streets of his neighborhood. The schools that he was sent to discouraged black children, rather than encouraging growth and facilitating a healthy learning environment. The streets were carefully orchestrated for self defense. You had to protect yourself, because you knew the law wouldn’t. At Howard University, “the Mecca”, the excitement of witnessing the diversity that flooded the

The diction of the book is colloquial, which gives the text a tone that suggests the seriousness of Coates’s message as well at the importance of it being received by the audience. His conveyance of the dire situation African Americans face isn’t veiled in scholarly language. It’s clear and concise and as such the text doesn’t feel journalistic or a mere retelling of facts and figures. The narrative is empirical, relating authority from a place of authenticity, as Coates is African American, did grow up on the impoverished streets of Baltimore, and had experienced violence both first and second hand, whether it was

There are several mistakes in Ta-Nehisi Coates analysis of American life. His view is based on the idea that black America’s problems today are a result of America’s sinful past, and white supremacy. This notion is absurd, because although slavery was devastating and racism is still very much present today, it

Between the World and Me has been called a book about race, but the author argues that race itself is a flawed, if anything, nothing more than a pretext for racism. Early in the book he writes, “Race, is the child of racism, not the father.” The idea of race has been so important in the history of America and in the self-identification of its people and racial designations have literally marked the difference between life and death in some instances. How does discrediting the idea of race as an immutable, unchangeable fact changes the way we look at our history? Ourselves? In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and the current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden? Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the

This theme helps illuminate how black people came to be treated in America both when slavery existed and beyond into today’s society. The theme that black people are disposable bodies within American society. Because of the tradition of treating black people as objects or whose value strictly came from their ability to make profit, the idea of what it means to be black in America is imbedded in the danger of losing one’s body. Although slavery has ended, the racism remains as a violence inflicted on black people’s bodies. Coates is more than happy to emphasize that racism is an instinctive practice.

“The soul was the body that fed the tobacco, and the spirit was the blood that watered the cotton, and these created the first fruits of the American garden” (Coates 104). In Between the World and Me,” and within this quote alone, Ta-Nehisi Coates argued not only the importance of black identity, but also how and why black identity was so deceivingly shaped in response to the dark history behind it. Through Coates’ recollections and fair warnings to his son, the relationship between black identity and “The Dream” becomes clearer. In spite of the “white supremacist” trademark that comes stamped upon “The Dream,” Coates provides impermeable evidence as to why black identity is not only more invested in history than white identity, but more importantly why it is the investment to be made in “The American Dream.”

Between the World and Me is a long letter that Ta-Nehisi Coates writes to his teenage son, Samori. Coates uses history and past experiences to express to his son how America does not value the black man’s body. Coates starts by telling of what it was like for him growing up in Baltimore. How he saw black men dress and carry themselves in attempts to possess themselves and power. He then talks about the awakening of his black consciousness at Howard University. Howard is where he first started learning about the contributions of black people in American history. He also was introduced to a variety of different types of black people. Howard is also where Coates experienced the death of a close friend, Prince Jones, that catapults the most powerful message in his novel; The American Dream is an insidious idea glorified by whites and the media that was built on the marginalization of black people.

Between the World and Me examines the history and present circumstances of racial inequality and segregation in America. Coates directs the book to Samori to give his audience personal insight into the various stages of a black man’s life. From his childhood, to his college experience, to his complicated role as a father, Coates gradually unfolds a critical account of the relationship between black and white communities. He calls those who “believe themselves to be white” the “Dreamers” and criticizes them for the indifference toward black people 's experiences. He wants the audience to reflect upon themselves and realize that they are part of the problem.