Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates is the author’s personal recollection of growing up in a racially biased society in which he is a minority. He expresses his struggles and the obstacles he endures through a letter to his son. The letter serves as a warning and preparation for his son’s life in today’s society, but in actuality, it reaches out to a much broader audience. Coates evokes emotions through the inclusion of his own experiences and their position in the text that any person can respond to. Racism has always been the big elephant in the room; no one wants to ever speak about the harshness of one race seeming inferior to another race especially if a person is a part of the “superior race”. Coates’ personal approach to touching
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In the traditional letter format, the letter is addressed to whoever the person is writing to, but Coates only addresses him as son. This mystery leaves the readers wondering and questioning “What’s his name?” and “Why doesn’t Coates just say it?” Towards the middle of the letter, Coates finally calls his son by his name, “Samori.” The author discloses the significance of his name by telling him, “You were named for Samori Toure, who struggled against French colonizers for the right to own his black body.” Coates waits so long to deliver this information to the readers so they can feel a sense of struggle, just like him and his son feel living as black men in society. Although the impact isn’t near the same for the readers as for Coates and his son, the readers can still understand the frustrations and hardships more easily now than before. At the end of the letter, the author examines the death of Prince Jones and the effects it had on his family. Prince Jones’ life was suddenly taken by an officer of authority for an unjust reason. Prince Jones lived a law abiding lifestyle as an educated black man, but sadly, this did not seem to matter due to the color of his skin. Feeling empathetic, Coates puts himself in his fiancé’s shoes and wonders “what it meant to see the future upended with no explanation.” This thought frightens the author about the future for his son and for future black lives. Coates
In the traditional letter format, the letter is addressed to whoever the person is writing to, but Coates only addresses him as son. This mystery leaves the readers wondering and questioning “What’s his name?” and “Why doesn’t Coates just say it?” Towards the middle of the letter, Coates finally calls his son by his name, “Samori.” The author discloses the significance of his name by telling him, “You were named for Samori Toure, who struggled against French colonizers for the right to own his black body.” Coates waits so long to deliver this information to the readers so they can feel a sense of struggle, just like him and his son feel living as black men in society. Although the impact isn’t near the same for the readers as for Coates and his son, the readers can still understand the frustrations and hardships more easily now than before. At the end of the letter, the author examines the death of Prince Jones and the effects it had on his family. Prince Jones’ life was suddenly taken by an officer of authority for an unjust reason. Prince Jones lived a law abiding lifestyle as an educated black man, but sadly, this did not seem to matter due to the color of his skin. Feeling empathetic, Coates puts himself in his fiancé’s shoes and wonders “what it meant to see the future upended with no explanation.” This thought frightens the author about the future for his son and for future black lives. Coates