Between The World And Me Analysis

“Between the World and Me”, by Ta-Nehisi Coates, is a letter written to his son about what it means to be black and how tough it is to be a part of this race in the United States of America. In this book, Coates talks about his life in the black community, starting from childhood memories all the way to present day. Coates also tries sends a message, which is that his son should not lower his guard and be completely confident about who he is, instead he should be afraid about what the world is capable of doing to a black man. In this work, Coates disagrees on what it means to be black or white in America.

“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.

Ta-Nehisi Coates’, Between the World and Me, articulates an important and meaningful message that is both provocative and insightful. The book starts off in a way that might seem unorthodox, by addressing the book as if it were a letter to his son. This has a more figurative meaning as it is not literally meant for him to read, rather more of the idea that a father must communicate the injustice of race in the United States of America. Coates’ book is not only influential because it expresses views that are not often accepted or said, but compares events and real life scenarios that had impacted him enough to write a book about it. This theme of concern for not only the country, but to all the young black Americans living in today's society

"Between the world and me” is basically a letter Coates writes to his 15-year old son, Samori. The style and structure of the book borrows largely from “The Fire Next Time” by James Baldwin which has an epistolary structure and an elliptical style. At a glance, the texts seems like they were not meant for the general public as the tone of book insinuates privacy and intimacy. However, this is not the case. As a matter of fact the appearance of privacy is deceptive and he uses the letter form to give him a larger scope to illustrate the emotional complexity of black life in America. Some parts of the text portray characteristics of a faithful letter while some indicate that Coates is speaking to larger audience. One of the moment which shows that it is a personal letter is revealed after the non-indictment of Darren Wilson in the death of Michael Brown as Coates addresses his son one on one: “…You stayed up till 11 pm that night, waiting for the announcement of an indictment, and when instead it was announced that there was none you said, “I’ve got to go,” and you went into your room, and I heard you crying. I came in five minutes after, and I didn’t hug you, and I didn’t comfort you, because I thought it would be wrong to comfort you. I did not tell you that it would be okay, because I have never believed it would be okay...” In another moment, he appears to be speaking to the general public and rallying his black counterparts against black supremacy: “…Perhaps our triumphs

In Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, he writes to his son Samori about the dangers faced by black bodies regarding police intervention in the streets. Though many people, no matter what skin color, fail to recognize his concerns and respect his opinion, he has made it clear that where he stands is solid due to his personal face to face physical encounters with the law. Coates’ establishes ethos of his writing, due to his role of being a father. With this letter, he has built a firm foundation of why he must alert his son of the dangers he must be aware of because of the color of his body, but at the same time never be afraid to remember his value and right to be himself (Coates 113). With the appreciation and understanding of Coates’s

Coates has the art of writing mastered. Throughout Between the World and Me, Coates used words like "disembody" and "black body" to force his message that white supremacy does in fact exist and it is time for the world to stop looking the other way. He does not show this in a pleading way. Instead, he uses powerful diction, as well as the depth of his personal experiences making the reader truly try to imagine oneself in that exact position to cause the audience to want change. Perhaps two of the most apparent instances, and best parts of his work, were when another African American boy pointed a gun at a younger boy in his adolescent years, and, also, when he explained how prejudiced it was that the officer that tracked down and killed Prince Jones was not charged because the cop was white. This message Coates was attempting to get across was in accordance with an article out of Social Problems: Readings that argued violence is not in fact random, but actually targets African Americans (Silver). He wrote from his heart which shows how real and dangerous the issues of black vs white are.

Ta- Nehisi Coates between the world and me was my personal choice for the novel for my final paper because of the way it boldly and freely explores the thought of what it is like to black in America and how that thought relates to the concept Coates calls the “dream”. Coates uses the lens of the American dream to show how people who believe in it are only dreamers and that leads him to believe that white supremacy is the one reality in America and he uses his experiences as an African American child growing up all the way to having a son of his own. Writing the book to his fifteen year old son Coates sums up the general consensus of his thoughts by saying “I tell you now that the question of how one should live within a black body, within a country lost in the dream, is the question of my life, is the question of my life the pursuit of this question, I have found, ultimately answers itself.”(pg12) In this Coates lays out the most critical sentence to

The choice of form for Ta-Nehisi Coates’ novel Between the World and Me is very interesting and powerful. Coates uses the form of a letter to his son to tell his story. This gives the author a chance to express the personal struggles he and other people of color were dealing with during his coming-of-age. While many Autobiographies are written in a first-person style with an almost essay-like format, Coates strays away from tradition and offers an exciting take on this genre and his life.

After I read this book, Bewteen The World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, I was left in a state of awe. This novel was an experience that I am grateful to have had. Between The World and Me is a phenomenal letter to Samori Coates, the teenage son of the author. This book tells the story of a young man growing up in a completely different world than I am growing up in even though Ta-Nehisi Coates grew up in America. This story provides a detailed insight into what it is like to grow up and live in America as an African- American male. It illustrates what it is like to go to school, play in the streets, work in a job, live in a city, and how society views you, as a black person living in the United States.

“Between the World and Me,” by Ta-Nehisi Coates depicts the beautiful struggle the author faced growing up. The book opens with Coates describing how he felt during an interview when asked a question that indirectly inquired on the state of his body. He then goes into a summary of American history dealing with race relations. Coates states that he is writing the book for his 15-year-old son during a time of many wrongful killings of young blacks by police officers. Along with including what he learned from his rough upbringing in the ghetto of Baltimore, he also discussed his time at Howard University. Howard University taught him as many lessons in life as it did in the famed Douglas Hall. Throughout the book he mentions

Between the World and Me written by Ta-Nehish Coates is a compelling book about the white supremacy in America and how hard it is being black in America. Coates using this book as a measure to discuss the issues of race within this critical time of multiple hostile incidents. Just as James Baldwin did in his book The Fire Next Time, with his letter address to his nephew at the height of the civil rights movement, Coates models after his method. Coats and Baldwin write these books as guides during these critical moments in history not to aspire to any larger themes of overcoming or transcending “race” as a way to defeat racism but about the ways of survival and remembering. Coates is a realist who yet still find the beauty within the unequal disparities in America. How it is so apparent to see the devalue of black American live. Through out this novel Coasts examines the deeper meaning and values of black bodies he brings it together by describing his own personal experiences as a child in Baltimore, as a student as Howard, as a writer, and importantly as a parent. All these experience allow Coates to see the large overview of America’s history of brutality to black bodies, and the invention of race as form of social hierarchy. Coats uses of the quote “they made us a race, we made ourselves the people” he wants us to understand that while whites created the race for black as a social hierarchy with them as the dominant race, although he feels they are truly

In Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates discusses the brutal racism and prejudice that he has experienced, in the form of the letter. This format permits him to provide the audience with personal anecdotes in which he was the victim, as well as stories of friends and colleagues being victimized. Each example provides insight into the question of whether or not one can be free as an African American. More importantly, he outlines what it means to be free in America. Coates provides a pessimistic outlook on this question in the form of a letter addressed to his son, Samori. This allows the audience to feel sympathy towards Samori as well as others trapped in the same skin. This was a new experience for me, being that I am neither male

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.

In the memoir Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehishi Coates explains all the troubles and struggles he has seen while living in the United States as black man.

In Ta-Nehisi Coates’ enlightening novel, Between the World and Me, the author draws a great amount of attention towards what it means to be black and the experiences he has had as a black man in America. One message that truly spoke to me was a quote on pages 107 and 108, in which Coates is directing his language toward his son as he says: