Book Review: Between The World and Me

Book Review: Between The World and Me

Coate is inspired by live events to write this letter; an interview with popular news shows throws him off balance. Between me and the world is a letter by Coate to his son Somori. Coate creates an illumination of his experience from childhood on how to survive the streets of America in a blackbody. Coate writes about his rearing in the slums of Baltimore in which he is introduced to the codes that one needs to know to survive the harsh reception of the ghetto. His father was always hard on him though he now has a different perspective that most black parents do so to avoid losing their children to the harsh environment of the ghettos. Coates has compiled the challenges that black people have to undergo for them to survive the racial abuse that they face; blacks are prone to brutal police harassment and unjustified arrests. Other aspects highlighted are family support, The American Dream, fatherhood, and education.

The most prominent theme of the book is race and racism. Racism in America has been there for a long time right from the slavery age, where blacks were made to work for the whites. The whites deemed blacks to be inferior to them; hence, they were subjected to harsh working conditions (Coates, 10). Modern America still does not value the black as their equals as they believe in the chase of their ‘Dream,’ which they think that they should have access to pleasant living conditions. Racism has been embraced that it seems to have lost its meaning; the apparent disparities between the black and the white’s modes of living are a clear justification that it is a vice that it is oblivion of its existence. Racism is a pure art that emerges from the unfair treatment of blacks.

The American Dream is another theme that Coate has stressed, the dream thrives on beautiful perfect houses with swimming pools and lovely lawns. Coate omits Americans in the phrase ‘The American Dream’ because he believes that the whites-only enjoy the idea, yet it was built at the expense of the blacks. This creates ignorance of the existence of racial division (pg.32). Coate concludes that the dream is partial and that the dreamer might not even wake up. In my opinion, The American Dream is an illusion that was created to serve the interests of the white marginalizing the blacks, and it does not embrace the struggle that the blacks undergo to better their lives. A proper system should be in place, one that advocates for equal betterment of all human beings. It will create an environment that would allow impartial scramble of available resources that everybody desires.

Family is another component Coate has extensively touched. To live in America, especially for blacks, is difficult. This calls for black men and women to seek love and support from the closest and extended families to endure marginalization(Coate,45). Coate writes this letter to his son; it is tight and highlights how parents and elders are supposed to pass their experience and advice to their young children. Coate narrates how he and his wife lived in New York, and sometimes they did not have enough money to gather for their needs, yet his family and friends always helped him. Coate also speaks of the black writers who mentored him and referred to them as his ancestors, and this reveals how Coate took the writers to be part of his family as he narrates how they struggled to make ends meet. Attested by the living clusters of the black people in America, it is true that black families live together and share their experiences as one.

Coate started learning how the world operates on the streets. Education was a notion that many black people did not believe in its course because they were subjected to a poor learning environment. It was not until he attended Howard University that he began to see the world from a different perspective as he was open to more formal education. Coate embraces the role of being his teacher, and soon he adapts to the system that he now sees the classroom as a making of his learning. Coate also gets to interact with people from different backgrounds, and he learns the history of black people in America and how to bridge the gap between the world and himself. Education in American is a right for everyone, and it is an eye-opener that every child should get equal access regardless of race. There indeed exist different learning systems presented to both the blacks and whites.

Additionally, there is a theme of slavery; Coate digs the history of America and shows how slavery was the first tool that the whites implemented in the destruction and plundering of black bodies. He gives detailed accounts of how many black people were enslaved and subjected to inhumane conditions. Coate explains to Somori and us that each slave was once a free-living human with goals, desires, fears, challenges, and the capacity to emotionally or physically get detrimental. He gives Somori cautionary advice not to forget about these people to struggle or believe that it is because of them that he is where he is today. Today’s world is built on the history of yesterday, slavery was a vice that was there and still exists today in America, and it manifests itself in the form of racism and inequitable sharing of resources.

In my opinion, the title “Between me and the world” is the best because the atmosphere created by Coate puts him in a scenario that portrays him as a single person aggravating the challenges that the world presents to him. Black people are in constant struggle to satisfy their needs while the whites seem to have a better system that makes it easier for them to get what they need, this make America a place where blacks must look upon themselves to survive this creates a gap between black and the world. There are fear and intense feeling of loneliness, which has made the black man get radicalized and ready to defend his territory at whatever the cost.

Contrary to the opinion that America is the freest state, it has not lived to it’s right to that. A modern form of slavery and racism has taken a toll and made the black men and women feel marginalized in the state that they were born. Coate has highlighted vices that black people have to go through to be on the same level as whites. Struggling is the only hope that the blacks cling on, yet they are on the environment with the whites. The letter also shows that it is only through education that the gap between the world and humans can be bridged. Moreover, it also advocates that there is hope for the blacks and that they should never give up.