Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between The World And Me

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Ta-Nehisi Coates in Between the World and Me discusses the issues black people have to deal with in America on a daily basis by expressing  his point of view to his son in a letter. He begins by explaining his years when he was just a kid and already seeing the fear in his black neighborhood, by the way they talked, walked, and by the way the parents beat their children. As he grows up he tries to look for an outlet, look for people that understand his situation, and that is when he starts to attend Howard University, where his mind began to open. But even after he left Howard University, he continued to have this fear for world until one day his good friend Prince Jones was robbed of his body by a white officer, and instead that fear turned …show more content…

One of the main fears that was presented throughout the book was how the people had to worry about the safety of their black bodies. But by becoming aware of themselves, of their governemnt, and history, eventually came as sense of freedom.     Unfortunately, there is an overwhelming fear they get once their black body leaves their home,  because they know that their safety is at a higher risk once they step out into the world. Ta-Nehisi Coates states in his letter to his son how growing up in an all black community he could feel the undeniable fear of every black person, that was how powerful it was. He saw it in the way the men and women dressed and stood on the corners with their fancy puff coates and big shiny jewelry. Even in the streets, they made up their own rules and laws they needed to abide by because …show more content…

One way was simply by gaining knowledge and gaining understanding through books, where some have found their way out of the darkness. Ta-Nehisi Coates discusses how he has entered a new chapter  in his life in where Howard University had become a home for him. He refers to his school as The Mecca, it was a place where he felt for once he belonged and connected with other people who also had come from a place not like The Dream. After learning about Malcolm X and being inspired by him, he began to educate himself and get a better understanding of the world, instead not be bound by ignorance. “The pursuit of knowing was freedom to me, the right to declare your own curiosities and follow them through all manner of books. I was made for the library, not the classroom. The classroom was a jail of other people’s interests. The library was open, unending, free. Slowly, I was discovering myself” (48). This is important because many people look for an escape from their harsh reality but for many, some do not even make it past high school and end up going back to the streets. It's so easy for people to take the easy way out and stay stuck than trying to rise above all the chaos going on around them, especially if everyone is so brainwashed it becomes a lot harder to break free. They are told to survive but not how to survive, that

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