The Beautiful Struggle: Chapter Analysis

The black experience is a factor of life that every African-American person has to endure. Ta-Nehisi Coates, the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle, is one of those African-Americans. As a child, he mentions the moments in his life where the black experience was prominent. As long as an individual is black, they will encounter parts of the black experience. Before one can even be able to mention that Coates’ experience in his memoir related to the black experience in any way, one would need to know what the black experience is. Chapter 4 of the book “What’s Black About It?”, explains that the black experience can vary from person to person depending on age, education level, and even lifestyle. As a person of color, the individual is already forced to have a different experience than that of someone of Caucasian descent. The black experience is filled with components such as enduring racial stereotypes, being the victim of injustices based on skin color, and the …show more content…
Coates describes how people were murdered over irrelevant materialistic items such as the newest name brand coats, hats, and sneakers. Due to the fact that black people have been at the bottom of the chain in society for hundreds of years, they see owning trademark items as a sign of success. Blacks are twice as likely as whites to avoid generic brands. They make sure they buy the name brand, whether it is food, clothes, bags, or anything else. It gives them a sense of pride to be able to prove that they can afford these name brand materials. Coates’ encounter with this section of the black experience accentuates the badge in The Beautiful Struggle. Having trademark items makes people feel like they are important. It gives a sense of pride, and it gives black people the ability to say “I have this, so I’m successful” or “I have this, I’m just as good as a white