Summary and Analysis of Between the World and Me: Based on the Book by Ta-Nehisi Coates

by Worth Books

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So much to read, so little time? This brief overview of Between the World and Me tells you what you need to know—before or after you read Ta-Nehisi Coates's book.
Crafted and edited with care, Worth Books set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader.
 
This short summary and analysis of Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates includes:
 

• Historical context
• Section-by-section summaries
• Themes and symbols
• Detailed timeline of key events
• Important quotes
• Fascinating trivia
• Glossary of terms
• Supporting material to enhance your understanding of the original work

 
About Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates:
 
Written in the form of a letter to his young son, Ta-Nehisi Coates's National Book Award winner, Between the World and Me, is a powerful personal essay that addresses the history of racism in America and its impact on our lives today.
 
Using his own experiences and observations as a starting point, Coates poses questions and imparts insights about the systematic oppression of persons of color, covering topics from the dark days of slavery to growing up in Baltimore in a "black body" to all-too-common instances of police brutality and everyday discrimination.
 
The summary and analysis in this ebook are intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of nonfiction.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781504043076
Publisher:	Worth Books
Publication date:	11/29/2016
Series:	Smart Summaries
Sold by:	OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED - EBKS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	30
File size:	3 MB

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Summary and Analysis of Between the World and Me

Based on the Book by Ta-Nehisi Coates

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By Worth Books

Worth Books

Copyright © 2016 Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5040-4307-6

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CHAPTER 1

Summary

I

The first section opens with the word "Son," as the entire book is presented as a letter to his teenage son, Samori. Ta-Nehisi Coates begins by connecting the history of racial violence in America to the 2014 deaths of Eric Garner, John Crawford, Tamir Rice, and Mike Brown at the hands of police. He recalls Samori's tearful reaction to the failure of a grand jury to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of 18-year-old Brown, and his inability as a father to properly comfort him. In place of that comfort, Coates provides this book — a dose of the truth, and he begins telling his own story.

Coates recalls life on the street in Baltimore and one 1986 incident in particular when a boy pulled a gun on him in a 7-Eleven parking lot to assert dominance. He notes that the schools were drudge factories incompatible with creativity. He derides the "ritual review" of Black History Month and its "films dedicated to the glories of being beaten on camera." He introduces the idea of "The Dream," and recalls seeing "dispatches" from this Dreamworld on television in his youth, with its easy suburban pleasures, "unworried boys," and white picket fences. Coates draws his son's attention to the differences in their worlds, the son having seen the election of a black president as well as "black women everywhere in their natural hair."

Coates describes when he went off to attend Howard University. In addition to the writings of Malcolm X, he reads Chancellor Williams, J. A. Rogers, and John Jackson, and revels in the spirit of black nationalism among the students. He meets friends, people who push him out of his comfort zone, and Samori's mother. Ultimately preferring to choose his own curriculum, Coates leaves the confines of school to pursue a career in journalism.

He continues to drift until Samori is born, when Coates and Samori's mother are 24-year-olds. The baby's birth is a "domesticating" influence, resonant with both fear and determination. Ta-Nehisi Coates is determined to protect his son, of course, but also himself, so as not to leave his son fatherless.

II

This section begins with Coates recalling an incident where he was pulled over for no reason by a Prince George's County police officer. This particular department had a reputation for brutality that had resulted in deaths, and he was frightened. But nothing happened. Shortly thereafter, he reads an item in the newspaper about a Prince George's County officer-involved shooting. The victim was a friend of his from Howard University, Prince Jones. The shooting galvanized Coates; it became a symbol of racial injustice and a focal point for his activism.

Coates then recalls moving to New York City just before the attack on 9/11, and his complex reaction to the tragic events, as he was still reeling from the death of Prince Jones. He points out that the site of the World Trade Center had formerly been the location of a slave auction, that "southern Manhattan had always been Ground Zero to us."

After musing on the racial connotations of various city neighborhoods, and recounting the incident with the aggressive woman at the movie theater and the interview with Jordan Davis' mother, Coates describes a trip to Paris he took alone, and then a second visit with his wife and Samori. He marvels at the beauty of the French capital and the people, and the different cultural connotations. He considers himself to be first and foremost "an American" instead of an "African American." He reminds Samori that this feeling is fleeting, there is no "passport out of the struggle," and that France has its own bloody history.

Coates ends the section by returning to more recent events, including the killing of Michael Brown by Officer Darren Wilson and the piece of innocence that Samori lost after the failure to indict the shooter. This loss of innocence is the price of being awake and refusing to accept the faulty logic of the Dreamers that condone such violence.

III

In the final, brief section, Ta-Nehisi Coates recalls a visit he made to Prince Jones' mother. It is January and Dr. Jones still has a Christmas stocking up for her late son. When she mentions that she had wished for Prince to choose an Ivy League college, Coates asks her if she regrets that he chose Howard instead. She responds instead with regret that her son was no longer alive.

The implication is that Prince Jones (who Coates elsewhere has called "patron saint of the twice as good") was not your average victim of a police shooting: despite the fact that he was from the upper-middle class, well-educated, and had no criminal record — nothing could save him. All of his mother's hard work and nurturing was undone by one act of racism.

Coates is hesitant to fully call his own son to action. "Perhaps that was, is, the hope of the movement: to awaken the Dreamers," he says, before pulling back, "you cannot arrange your life around them ... Our moment is too brief. Our bodies are too precious."

He points out that, with the abolition of slavery and the rise of Industrialization (and the necessity of the automobile for "white flight"), white America has subjugated the Earth itself, pillaging its natural resources.

In his final word on the subject, he urges Samori to "Struggle for the memory of your ancestors ... but do not struggle for the Dreamers. Hope for them."

The Dream is extremely costly for people of color in terms of time, money, and the constant threat to their bodies. However, while struggling for equality is a noble and necessary part of life, it cannot be all of one's life.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Summary and Analysis of Between the World and Me by Worth Books. Copyright © 2016 Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.. Excerpted by permission of Worth Books.
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Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Contents

Context,
Overview,
Summary,
Themes and Symbols,
Timeline,
Cast of Characters,
Direct Quotes and Analysis,
Trivia,
What's That Word?,
Critical Response,
About Ta-Nehisi Coates,
For Your Information,
Bibliography,
Copyright,