Analysis Of 'Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between The World And Me

Between the World and Me, written by Ta-Nehisi Coates, is written as a letter to his son about realities associated with being black in the United States of America. His tone is somewhat poetic and quite bleak, based on his personal experiences. The book is intense, it is an address to a nation that ignores its own blatant history of racism, a nation that does not prosecute police officers who kill innocent black citizens, a nation that supports a policy of mass incarceration. He writes about growing up in Baltimore, Maryland and details the ways in which institutions (school, police, and the streets) discipline, endanger, and threaten to harm black men and women. Between the World and Me is an intimate confession of the fears of a black American father.

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.

Between the World and Me by writer Ta-Nehisi Coates depicts himself writing a letter to his son describing what it is like to grow up in a black body. He tells of the hardships that he went through growing up and what he did to deal with them. Coates gives his opinions on how the word treats African Americans, and believes that the the country can never fully repay them. In another one of his works The Case for Reparations he says how after a discussion, people may discover more about themselves. Coates believes that people are scared to learn about what they have done without even knowing it and the fact that it doesn’t directly affect them prevents them from doing anything.

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

Ta-Nehisi Coates had one clear purpose in writing this novel, Between the World and Me: to teach his son what it means to be a black man. He shows him the fear that young black men feel, the history of slavery and black oppression, as well as his own personal experiences with being influenced by Malcolm X. He also shares with him the joy he feels about getting an education and learning of more ways to be black. He also shared with him the story of Prince Jones’ murder and how his mother’s pride in her son after his death was so important. In this novel, Coates uses the archetype of the journey and the teacher to further his message and bring life to his work.

In Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates brings to light the complex essence of the concept of body. Nowadays, especially in politics, there seems to be a distance from what someone’s body means and how a person is actually affected in their body. Everyone’s lived experiences will vary and what one person understanding of their body may be a completely different understanding of someone else. The power of Coates’ storytelling shares his growing understanding of what it means to live in a black body. This breaks down the idea that “body”, how it is experienced and how it influences, is subjective.

One of the most prominent components of the text is that the black body is constantly under threat. Coats argues that “the question of how one should live within a black body… is the question of life.” He shows how racism works through the control and exploitation of black bodies and the delicateness of black bodies that results within a racist society. Coats writes that racism is a natural experience. Throughout American history, black men and women were chained, beaten, labored, and killed. Now, they experience police brutality and nonsensical shootings. Arrested for trying to get into their own homes and shot because they look suspicious or their hood is up. Shot because they inhabit a black body. It is the subtle ways in which a black body must conduct itself in public. Violence is consistent in an America that is still divided by race.

Ta-Nehisi Coates, is an award winning African-American author and journalist. His profound work is most commonly based on modern day cultural, social, and political issues that regard the African American community. In 2015, he released his second novel, Between the World and Me which was written as letter to his fifteen year old son. Throughout the book Coates describes and recalls his experiences as a young boy, while also deeply contemplating the feelings and realities that are commonly associated with being a young black man in this country. It provides an understanding of our past and also modern crisis’ and issues with regards of race, politics, and the continuous exploitation of black people.

After reading Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, I felt that the most powerful message in the book was Coates’ assertion that African Americans are striving for the “Dream” which is in fact unreachable. The “Dream” is supposed to be the desire of people to live in a big house with a white picket fence and a big yard, however because it was built on the backs of black people, literally, it is not something that is a realistic goal or a realistic dream. Coates wants his son to realize that America has been built on the marginalization of black people and other minorities and that because of this, it is not a place which will allow races that white people have deemed as “lesser” to prosper. The first major takeaway that I got from reading

One of the most powerful messages encountered in the book is the importance of valuing yourself as a black being in a predominantly white and racially divided society. Coates explains how despite the fact that this nation has been built on the bones and bloodshed of blacks, the black body has lost almost all

Rosa Parks once said, “Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully we shall overcome.” Between The World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Coates writes a letter to his son explaining what his life was like growing up in America as an African American man, and he also tries to give his son some moral advice on how to take charge of living as a man in a black body. Spike Lee directs a film on Malcolm X, who was a black activist and a leader of the struggle for black freedom. Both the book and film discuss slavery, civil rights, and police brutality. Coates and Malcolm X advocate that the malicious history of slavery has contributed to the shaping of modern day racism in America.

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 is Ta-Nehisi Coates acclaimed letter to his teenage son, Samori, about what it means to be a black person in America. It deals with the personal issues, such as growing up in Baltimore and his cultivation of an intellectual and political consciousness at Howard University in the 1990s, and the historical, as seen in his discussion of the ways in which the black body has always been destination to destruction. Written in a bold, immediate, and at times passionate and angry voice, Coates places contemporary events like the killings of Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin in this larger narrative of black struggle. One of his main themes is the "Dream" the world in which people who call themselves white inhabit and the one they do not want black bodies within. The Dream is alluring but false.

“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.

Cross’ book Shades of black: diversity in African-American identity (1991) depicts a perceived metamorphous of black identity through five stages of development—his ideologies are now termed as the Nigrescence theory. In simple terms, this philosophy refers to the process of becoming Black. It also demonstrates daily struggles that the black community may have in developing a healthy personal identity. Over the years, many authors attempt to define what the word black means. Eventually, many came to begin using the politically acceptable term widely applied today to regard black people; that word is known as Negroes. As different historical events occurred, one being the black power revolution on the 1970’s the experience called for a fresh definition of the term negro. Blacks or Africans in America began to be more conscious of their identity and more aware of the differences separating them. This is the experience that Cross (1971) illustrates and is primarily referenced in his five-stage progress including: pre-encounter, encounter, immersion/emersion, internalization, and internalization-commitment. This book highlights some very vital topics relating to mental health, which has been carefully disregarded by other researchers. Nonetheless, it has strong affiliations to the black experience and can positively explain a more normal psychological behavior through logical and very thought provoking