The Life of a Black Body in America The novel Between The World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates is a compilation of letters written for his son analysing the life of african american people in the United States of America over the course of his lifetime. A main topic unraveled in the book is that of the “Black body” and how it is viewed through Coates’ perspective. Ta-Nehisi is explaining to his son Samori about how race is really just an arbitrary social construct as opposed to a natural biological fact. Coates further investigates how this ideology came to be and still continues to prosper today throughout the novel and finally finds answers to questions he had been asking himself his whole life.
In the beginning of the novel, Coates’ is quick to point out different events that transpire throughout the novel which illustrate how people romanticise reality in a way to make the truth seem less worse than it actually is. This is often done through telling stories that place the world in a much more pleasant perspective. This presents a gateway for people to forget the
…show more content…
He adds that the romanticisation of realties allows for racism to ultimately prevail and racial tragedies are than inevitably accepted as naturalaties of life. He then goes on to explain how the concept of white people only came from the sole oppression of black people. The identity of whiteness was established by denying black people rights to their own bodies and lives. It is through this which the “The Dream” was created, and can only be obtained by the persecution of black people. This so called Dream essentially encompasses the mainstream luxuries in life, a large nice house and a fast car. The problem is that it is hard to realize the gruesome reality upon which the Dream can be obtained and it is tempting to dismiss it and just embrace richness and the “good