Ta-Nehisi Coates 'Dear Son And' The Black Body

“Dear Son” is perhaps the most generic way to begin a piece of work. Who is the “son”? It is not until 100 pages later is this mysterious person revealed in the most subtle of instances. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, is a touching letter that focuses on the concept of “race” and the revolving theories and components contained within that one world. Coates largely bases the letter on the concept of the “American Dream” and “The Black Body”, which serve as metaphors building up to the main message. This main message aims to change the conception of racism in America through a series of candid statements scattered throughout the piece of art. The overlying metaphors orbiting around a single world portrays the overall main message

“The Dream” is American exceptionalism, that we are special and better than everyone else: “...the greatest and noblest nation ever to exist, a lone champion standing between the white city of democracy and the...enemies of civilization” (Coates 8). Americans themselves have creates the concept of this exceptionalism, considering itself to be the essentially the greatest civilization that has ever existed, which is shown through the “American spirit”. However, Coates explains that the treatment of black people and the idea of racism that is still ever present in our ideals presents a sort of hypocrisy to “The Dream”. “The Dream” is the stereotypical idea of a perfect American suburban life where everything is represented as sunshine and rainbows. However, the idea is rooted in deception: “...the Dream rests on our backs, the bedding made from our bodies” (Coates 11). This “Dream” is made from the pain

The black body serves as a symbol for every black man and women who have undergone the mistreatment of themselves and their people as an entirety. Moreover, America often blames not itself, but black body: “... America might justify itself, the story of a black body’s destruction mus have always become with his or her error…” (Coates 96). The ever present theme of injustice to the black person is obvious in this instance. Americans as a general society, have always found some way to blame the black person themselves through their bodies. The violence that is placed on the black people, whether it referred to the beatings that took place in the 1700 and 1800s, or the police brutality today, are the perfect symbol of inequality. The poor treatment of the Black Body destroys the conception of the American Dream. Violence is has constantly been a part of a black person’s life, but often the black man seems to be the most nonviolent: “Why were only heroes nonviolent? … morality of nonviolence, but of the sense that blacks are in especial need of this morality” (Coates 32). One of the biggest ironies presented is the peaceful front that many black people show in the face of the unfair world. America treats the black body as an object for them to step on, and the mistreatment of it has been shown constantly