Analysis Of Ta-Nehisi Coates Between The World And Me

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates is a book with a powerful message about racism and white power in America. Coates chose to write his book as a letter addressed to his fifteen-year-old son, Samori. The letter format is a clever way to get his message across by making the book a personal experience, rather than preaching to the readers about racism. Early in the reading he states, “my work is to give you what I know of my own particular path while allowing you to walk your own” (Coates 39). He sets up the story by informing the reader that he is not flawless and still doesn’t fully understand life, but he is going to try his hardest to pass his knowledge of the world to his son, and anyone reading. His message throughout the story

This makes the story much more influential because Coates has evidence to back the issues with society he is telling his son about. At the beginning of the story he tells his son how his father taught him life lessons. “My father beat me for letting another boy steal from me. Two years later he beat me for threatening my ninth-grade teacher” (Coates 28). This childhood experience taught Coates that both not being violent enough, and being too violent could cost him his life. The idea of including this lesson that his father gave him, alludes that the experiences and advice in this letter will stay with Samori for his life, comparable to how Coates will never forget the lessons his father taught him. During the letter, Coates mentions Prince Jones a pretty significant amount of times. At the beginning when he first mentions him, the reader is led to believe that he is just support for the idea that racism is still a huge issue and it is hard to see that there is a deeper message as to why he feels so strongly specifically for Prince Jones. At the end of the letter, Coates does an excellent job explaining why he feels so strongly for him. He tells about talking to his mother and how he could see Prince in himself. The idea of Coates revisiting his feelings pages later shows that he does an amazing job supporting why he feels the way he feels, which is important for the message, since typical parental advice is more emotionally guided and most reasoning is simply “because I said so.” The way Coates uses his own experiences in life, instead of giving his son advice without reasoning, allows someone reading the book to feel for Coates and what he has been through, which empowers the message he is giving to his son, and anyone who will