Analysis Of Ta-Nehisi Coates Between The World And Me

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates is an epistle he wrote to his son explaining to him the injustice, prejudice, and racism black people face in America. Coates throughout this epistle to his son brings up the topic of fear among the black community and the grave impact of it. Coates explains to his son the fear of losing the black body and the impact it has on the black community.

Parents live in constant fear of losing the bodies of their black children. He demonstrates this on page 15 where he says “My father was so very afraid. I felt it in the sting of his black leather belt, which he applied with more anxiety than anger, my father who beat me as if something might steal me away…” Coates saw how his father

beat him more out of fear than anger because his father knew how easily his black body could be taken away from in the society they lived in. This shows fear in Coates father because he doesn't want him to just become another statistic at the hands of the street or police. Also, on page 82 Coates also states “ I understood it all - the cable wires, the extension cord, the ritual switch. Black people love their children with a kind of obsession. You are all we have, and you come endangered to us.” Coates understands why his father beat and knows it was out of love. He says that black people love their children with a kind of obsession and that they are endangered and by saying this Coates is trying to make his son realize the fear black parents have knowing how little the black body is

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valued in this society they live in and how fast and easily their bodies can be taken away making them in a way “endangered”. As a result black parents must protect them at all costs with their fear of them losing their bodies.

American society and culture caused black people to fear disembodiment.

On page 10 Coates explains, “You must always remember that the sociology, the history, the economics, the graphs, the charts, the regressions all land, with great violence, upon the body.” This is saying that everything America and it’s government is built on is made to destroy the black body which causes fear of disembodiment onto the black community. Also, on page 17 Coates states “The nakedness is the correct and intended result of policy, the predictable upshot of people forced for centuries to live under fear.” America creates these neighborhoods where black youth is exposed to violence and this intended policy forces people to become afraid of losing their bodies. America influenced the fear in many black people of losing their bodies.

Coates sees how black teens constantly live in fear of their black bodies. On page 14 it states “The fear lived on in their practiced bop, their slouching denim, their big T-shirts, the calculated angle of their baseball caps, a catalog of behaviors and garments that these boys were in firm possession of everything they desired.” Coates is saying that these teens would put on garments and have these practiced rituals to hide the fear they really had. This shows how

the

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fear of disembodiment among black teen is not accepted into the society they live in, so they use possessions and practiced behaviors to hide it all. As well as on page 14-15 Coates says “I knew that there was a ritual to a street fight, bylaws and codes that, in their very need, attested to all the vulnerability of the black teenage bodies.” Street fighting hides the fearfulness the teens have of disembodiment by testing the vulnerability of their bodies. This shows fear of disembodiment because these teens want to act tough because of the violence surrounded in their society.

Overall, fear plays a big part in the reason why black people are afraid of losing their bodies. This can be seen in the parents of black children, black teens, and the society America has created to further enable this. Coates portrays the fear of disembodiment that greatly impacts the black community and what they do with their bodies. In Between The World and Me, Coates does an excellent job demonstrating this to his son and audience along with other significant problems black people face in America.