Ta-Nehisi Coates Between The World And Me

722 Words2 Pages

TIn the novel Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, he identifies many issues with the American system and the affected it has on the black community. He demonstrates these challenges through many anecdotes in his book that talk about the disposition of the black culture in America. During the time of revelatory experiences, engagement in education, and the love at the infamous Howard University, Coates goes through a self-searching journey to find out who he is in a society that hates the human shell he walks in. The challenges he begins to identify are significant to understanding the mistreatment of black people. From the Civil War battlefields to the villages in France, Coates begins to recognize how these problems have continuously …show more content…

Coates emphasizes his internal struggle with this predisposition as a black man in America when he truly did not know himself. He makes his audience and his son question: How can the black body succeed in a society that wants the bodies to do the exact opposite? Towards the end of the novel, the audience soon figures out that the journey of stories that tackle the fear and anguish of a community have turned into understanding and liberation. Being a black person in America will be tough for the time being, but being black is not a disadvantage. Between the World and Me, illustrates how the African American individual can learn, live, and gain a true understanding of self, even in situations of …show more content…

This sense of vulnerability spoke to the fear of not knowing who you are among your own community. Coates grew up in violence and rage and that wasn’t what he wanted to be. There is this stereotype that black people are mad at the world. The struggle we have is not with the world, but with each other. In a university where intelligence is pouring out of every single student, the internal fight of self-discovery comes to light and you must fight to differentiate yourself from everyone else. Fighting amongst against one another but cannot identify who you are is a sense of vulnerability. The vulnerability of putting yourself in a situation where you must self-assure yourself in your community is difficult. The educated is strong and that can lead to an understanding of the world. Coates talks about how the realization he made on his journey was “This heap of realization was a weight. [He] found them physically painful and exhausting….”. This self-fulfillment allowed him to have a difference perspective on the world. Understanding who he is, he acknowledged his role the world. Though his finding, the audience was able to understand that “…there was no inherent meaning of black blood. Black blood wasn’t black; black skin wasn’t even black….”. This spoke to me because I realized that my blackness was not some

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of 'Black Rage' By William Grier And Price Cobbs?

    1073 Words  | 3 Pages

    The black rage is activated through the continual disavowed manner of which black people’s humanity is called into question. GC laments, “To be regarded always as subhuman is a stultifying experience.” Black rage is the result of a constant disengagement of seeing the worth of a person. GC realizes that in order for black people to overcome such trauma there must be an outlet. Black rage is the outlet from which they notice that black people deal with the hopelessness. The genius in thier estimation is that black folks find theses outlets in so many different ways –church, barbershop, home and a myriad of other places. Oftentimes these places are fortitudes of solace that solidify status to a people who have been deemed

    Read More

  • Between The World And Me Rhetorical Analysis

    358 Words  | 1 Pages

    In this passage from the novel Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates utilizes meaningful, vivid imagery to not only stress the chasm between two dissonant American realities, but to also bolster his clarion for the American people to abolish the slavery of institutional or personal bias against any background. For example, Coates introduces his audience to the idea that the United States is a galaxy, and that the extremes of the "black" and "white" lifestyles in this galaxy are so severe that they can only know of each other through dispatch (Coates 20-21). Although Coates's language is straightforward, it nevertheless challenges his audience to reconsider a status quo that has maintained social division in an unwitting yet ignorant fashion.

    Read More

  • Suffering and Struggle in Sonny´s Blues by James Baldwin

    1195 Words  | 3 Pages

    The transition of being a black man in a time just after slavery was a hard one. A black man had to prove himself at the same time had to come to terms with the fact that he would never amount to much in a white dominated country. Some young black men did actually make it but it was a long and bitter road. Most young men fell into the same trappings as the narrator’s brother. Times were hard and most young boys growing up in Harlem were swept off their feet by the onslaught of change. For American blacks in the middle of the twentieth century, racism is another of the dark forces of destruction and meaninglessness which must be endured. Beauty, joy, triumph, security, suffering, and sorrow are all creations of community, especially of family and family-like groups. They are temporary havens from the world''s trouble, and they are also the meanings of human life.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Tommie Shelby's We Who Are Dark

    1480 Words  | 3 Pages

    Having a thick sense of black identity calls for “ African Americans think of themselves as and act as a ‘nation’ constituted not by physical borders, but by a shared ethnic, cultural, or biological trait that imbues the community with a ‘general will’ and this “ will” typically includes political motives (Papish 2). Papish argues that it is not part of the duty of a black person to have any sense of loyalty or solidarity with other African-Americans and that not doing so does not make them any less black than those that choose to have a thick sense of black identity. Those who don’t grow up with a strong black identity in their lives are just as black and go through some of the same struggles that other black people do. In the video “Black Like Who?” Debbie Reynolds did not have a strong sense of blackness because she was raised in a white neighborhood.

    Read More

  • Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between The World And Me

    960 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the novel “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates, the story is a direct letter to his son. This letter contains the tools and instructions that his son will need in order to be a successful “black body” in the modern society. Coates explains his life experiences and hardships he had to overcome because of the color of his skin. Coates pushes an urgent message to the world; discrimination is still prevalent and real in today 's society, and the world is still struggling to accept an equal life for blacks. Coates writings alter the minds of his readers and allow them to experience life through a black man 's eyes. Ta-Nehisi Coates does this by the use of rhetorical strategies like, repetition and tone, metaphors and similes, and

    Read More

  • The Black Family In The Age Of Mass Incarceration Summary

    1445 Words  | 3 Pages

    He believes that because of what past generations have endured and the lack of freedom that was given to blacks, they were not provided the same rights and were looked at as inferior human beings. Social matters, such as mass incarceration of blacks and the idea that black people are criminals, stem from the disparity between races as explained by Coates who emphasizes, “blacks who could not find work were labeled vagrants and sent to jail, where they were leased as labor to the very people who had once enslaved them” (Coates). The situation did not change even when they were freed from enslavement as blacks were not able to live the same as the white people. This reinforced blacks being inferior as they were not given the same opportunities as white people had. To this day, many black men looking for jobs struggle with the same disadvantages that existed years ago. They are targeted by the criminal justice system, and once they have a criminal history, it is hard for them to find jobs. Unfortunately, even with a clean record it is still difficult for black men to find jobs since, “the job market in America regards black men who have never been criminals as though they were” (Coates). Coates draws parallels between incarceration and slavery, but also provides explanation as to why minorities find themselves with certain unequal and employment

    Read More

  • Essay On Racism By Brent Staples

    1694 Words  | 4 Pages

    Racism is not only a crime against humanity, but a daily burden that weighs down many shoulders. Racism has haunted America ever since the founding of the United States, and has eerily followed us to this very day. As an intimidating looking black man living in a country composed of mostly white people, Brent Staples is a classic victim of prejudice. The typical effect of racism on an African American man such as Staples, is a growing feeling of alienation and inferiority; the typical effect of racism on a white person is fear and a feeling of superiority. While Brent Staples could be seen as a victim of prejudice because of the discrimination he suffers, he claims that the victim and the perpetrator are both harmed in the vicious cycle that is racism. Staples employs his reader to recognize the value of his thesis through his stylistic use of anecdotes, repetition and the contrast of his characterization.

    Read More

  • Double-Conciousness in The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois

    1010 Words  | 3 Pages

    In other words, double-consciousness can be described as an attempt to make peace with the clashing values of African heritage and European upbringing within an African American individual. Such an obstacle has the potential to be quite damaging to one’s sense of identity. The psychological theory of double-consciousness can be explored in the writings of African American authors. The works of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God and the first chapter of Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man demonstrate the challenging collision of two cultures within the protagonists shaping their identities, and surprisingly aiding them to achieve a stronger sense of self than...

    Read More

  • A Comparison Of W. E. B. Du Bois And James Baldwin

    727 Words  | 2 Pages

    Even today, African American authors write about the prejudice that still happens, like Ta-Nehisi Coates. In his essay Acting French, Coates recalls when he studied the French language at Middlebury College. Despite all his efforts to integrate with his fellow students into French culture, yet another barrier reveals itself. “And so a white family born into the lower middle class can expect to live around a critical mass of people who are more affluent or worldly and thus see other things, be exposed to other practices and other cultures. A black family with a middle class salary can expect to live around a critical mass of poor people, and mostly see the same things they (and the poor people around them) are working hard to escape. This too compounds.” Because of the lack of black people available to look up to in scholastics, it makes it hard for black students to find the motivation to pursue interests in English or other

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Ta-Nehisi Coates A Letter My Son

    217 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the article, “A Letter My Son,” Ta-Nehisi Coates utilizes both ethical and pathetic appeal to address his audience in a personable manner. The purpose of this article is to enlighten the audience, and in particular his son, on what it looks like, feels like, and means to be encompassed in his black body through a series of personal anecdotes and self-reflection on what it means to be black. In comparison, Coates goes a step further and analyzes how a black body moves and is perceived in a world that is centered on whiteness. This is established in the first half of the text when the author states that,“white America’s progress, or rather the progress of those Americans who believe that they are white, was built on looting and violence,”

    Read More

  • Summary Of Brent Staples's 'Black Men And Public Space'

    745 Words  | 2 Pages

    Brent Staples focuses on his own experiences, which center around his perspective of racism and inequality. This perspective uniquely encapsulates the life of a black man with an outer image that directly affects how others perceive him as a person. Many readers, including myself, have never experienced the fear that Staples encounters so frequently. The severity of his experiences was highlighted for me when he wrote, “It also made it clear that I was indistinguishable from the muggers who occasionally seeped into the area from the surrounding ghetto.” (135) Having to accept that fact as a reality is something that many people will never understand. It is monumentally important that Staples was able to share this perspective of the world so others could begin to comprehend society from a viewpoint different from their

    Read More

  • The American Dream In Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between The World And Me

    1798 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the book Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates speaks on racial encounters developing while growing up and gives a message to his son about the unfair racial ways he had to overcome in his life. Through Coates racist and unfair lifestyle, he still made it to be a successful black man and wants his son to do the same. He writes this book to set up and prepare his child for his future in a country that judges by skin color. Coates is stuck to using the allegory of a disaster in the book while trying to explain the miserable results from our history of white supremacy. In parts of the story, he gives credit to the viewpoint of white

    Read More

  • The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B Dubois

    3326 Words  | 7 Pages

    The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B Dubois is a influential work in African American literature and is an American classic. In this book Dubois proposes that "the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line." His concepts of life behind the veil of race and the resulting "double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others," have become touchstones for thinking about race in America. In addition to these lasting concepts, Souls offers an evaluation of the progress of the races and the possibilities for future progress as the nation entered the twentieth century.

    Read More

  • The Case For Reparations By Ta-Nehisi Coatess Analysis

    1274 Words  | 3 Pages

    This is amazing passage that really sets the tone for the rest of the paper. It’s ironic and inspirational in every way. Coates makes a connection about this when he referenced Nathaniel Bacon’s rebellion in which white and black indentured servants banded together to fight for their rights. The sad thing is that many whites forget today they too faced discrimination and struggled for their rights. Rather it was the holocaust, women’s right movement or even union strikes, we all had to fight for something as Americans since the beginning.

    Read More

  • racism and prejudice

    1511 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Black Like Me” written by John Howard Griffin is an excellently written novel, based on factual events experienced by the author himself. It is based in the 1950s, a time when racism was widespread throughout America. The basic outline of the story is the following of one man (Griffin) as he embarks on a journey that takes him to the ‘other side’. Griffin is a middle-aged white man, and decides to personally experience the life of a Negro. He achieves this by literally changing the pigmentation in his skin so that he is no longer white. Griffin moves to the deep southern states of America where he is subject to harsh racist treatment by the whites. By doing so, he experiences first hand the reality of racism and prejudice, almost to the point of disbelief. The story focuses on the lives of Negroes: restricted, brutal and harsh. “My skin was dark. That was sufficient reason for them to deny me those rights and freedoms without whi...

    Read More

More about Ta-Nehisi Coates Between The World And Me

Open Document