Preview

Ta-Nehisi Coates Letter To My Son

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
264 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Ta-Nehisi Coates Letter To My Son
In “Letter to My Son”, Ta-Nehisi Coates utilization of metaphors assists him in conveying the idea from slavery to segregation to police brutality today, black bodies have always been used and abused by the U.S. Coates refers to the soul as the “body that fed the tobacco” and the spirit as “the blood that watered the cotton” (33). Coates compares the soul, spirit, and body to vital components of gardening, suggesting that without the exploitation of black bodies, America wouldn’t have been successful in pursuing enslavement. American authorities manipulated Black bodies in an attempt to ensure that they held the most power. Coates compares the spirit and soul to destructible items to suggest the importance and value associated with these items.
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Summary Of Ta Nehisi Coates 'Letter To My Son'
    • 243 Words
    • 1 Page

    Summary Of Ta Nehisi Coates 'Letter To My Son'

    In the article “Letter to My Son,” Ta Nehisi Coates explores the the reality of the disconnect as well as differences between white and African-American life. Using his experience of being black in America, as well as America’s history of racial injustice, Coates conveys to the reader his displeasure with the current racial divide as well as injustices against African Americans. To support his argument, Coates cites incidents like the Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin shootings. As the article progresses, Coates expands his argument by speculating on what he believes are the causes of such injustices, such as America’s history as well as legacy of slavery and other forms of oppression of African Americans. It is this legacy of oppression that…

    • 243 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Black And White Man In Memphis, By Scott Russell Sanders
    • 1149 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Black And White Man In Memphis, By Scott Russell Sanders

    “The overseers wore dazzling white shirts and broad shadowy hats. The oiled barrels of their shotguns flashed in the sunlight. Their faces in memory are utterly blank.” Black and White men are the symbol of ethnic abhorrence. “The prisoners wore dingy gray-and-black zebra suits, heavy as canvas, sodden with sweat. Hatless, stooped, they chopped weeds in the fierce heat, row after row, breathing the acrid dust of boll-weevil poison.” The narrator expresses the unforgiving situations the slaves worked in; they didn’t even have a choice which is the saddest part. Yet the slave masters lived a different elegant life.…

    • 1149 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Ta-Nehisi Coates The Case For Reparations Analysis
    • 1169 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Ta-Nehisi Coates The Case For Reparations Analysis

    Ta-Nehisi really sets the tone of his article in his subheading. Coates writes, “Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.” Coates chooses this opportune moment in today’s world to jumpstart a truthful discussion of all the terrible acts inflicted on black people throughout america's history. During the years of slavery black people were held captivate and used as free labor, not to mention all the evil acts that were done to blacks, such as sexual assault and abuse , Instruments of Torture, Whipping, shackling, lynching, burning and castration. The united states of america was built by africans at no monetary cost. In today’s economy every african american should be a millionaire. Just think about working from the early morning to the late evening every single day in bondage getting physically and mentally…

    • 1169 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Dialectical Journal
    • 1390 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Dialectical Journal

    “If anyone wishes to be impressed with the soul-killing effects of slavery, let him go to Colonel Lloyd’s plantation, and, on allowance-day, place himself in the deep pine woods, and there let him, in silence, analyze the sounds that shall pass through the chambers of his soul, - and if he is not thus impressed, it will only be because ‘there is no flesh in his obdurate heart’” (9).…

    • 1390 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Close Reading of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass1
    • 391 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Close Reading of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass1

    According to the narrative of Frederick Douglass, during the 19th Century, the conditions slaves experienced were not only cruel, but inhumane. It is a common perception that “cruelty” refers to the physical violence and torture that slaves endure. However, in this passage, Douglass conveys the degrading treatment towards young slaves in the plantation, as if they were domesticated animals. The slaves were deprived of freedom and basic human rights. They were not only denied of racial equality, they weren’t even recognized as actual human beings.…

    • 391 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis Of Letter From Birmingham Jail
    • 1288 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Rhetorical Analysis Of Letter From Birmingham Jail

    King takes his argument a step further by using imagery to describe the harsh realities endured by black men and women at this time. He challenges readers to imagine seeing “vicious mobs lynch [their] mothers and fathers” and “drown [their] sisters.” He describes how the police would “curse, kick, brutalize and even kill [his] black brothers and sisters” (King 381). By causing the reader to visualize these horrors, King’s use of imagery puts the reader in his shoes and allows them to consider what it would be like to experience these horrors for themselves. He describes a little girl being told she cannot attend a public amusement park because she is black and talks about the “tears welling up in her little eyes” and “depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky” (King 381-382). He is able to express to the reader what these hardships are really like from his perspective. This way, it is easier for the readers to relate to what King is going through by considering if they were going through…

    • 1288 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Killing the Black Body - Summary
    • 1265 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Killing the Black Body - Summary

    Robert argues that throughout American history, the reproductive capacity of black women has been used against them constantly as a means of racial oppression, control, and devaluation. Since the times of slavery, the institution of black motherhood has been minimized and disgraced. For instance, black women were forced to become pregnant. They faced the threat of sterilization through coercion. Black women were vigorously implanted with Norplant, denied welfare because of their procreation, and were imprisoned due to reproductive choices. Their children were taken away and sold to different slave-owners. During the times of slavery, black women were sexually exploited for reproductive reasons and in order to oppress and humiliate the black community. Roberts discusses in Killing the Black Body:…

    • 1265 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Coats 'Struggle In John Coates' The Mecca
    • 228 Words
    • 1 Page

    Coats 'Struggle In John Coates' The Mecca

    Coates ends his letter in a great fashion as he sums up his lessons for his son, Samori. He focuses on the idea of struggle, just like in Coates’s past experiences, Coates want his son to survive for his family’s legacy and find his place, or what Coates considered The Mecca. He tells not to stop the problems of racism and white supremacy on his own, but rather the people who allow it. He describes the “Dream” and “Dreamers” as the blacks who change themselves to be white and allow their hardships to continue. Coates say not to “struggle” for them but hope they will understand what they doing, as it doesn’t change anything for blacks. Coates brings back the idea of “taking one’s body” as he says, “our bodies stowed away in prisons and ghettos…”…

    • 228 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Alain Locke The New Negro Summary
    • 1745 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Alain Locke The New Negro Summary

    Locke argues that the New Negro brought forth a significant mission: to reinstate the black race’s prestige and esteem. Alain Locke describes this regeneration as ‘Negro Zionism’. It cannot be discounted that the Old Negro has contributed vastly to American society through art, music, and other ways that shaped America into being what it is today. Being the balance of society, the Old Negro contributed in ways such as labor and spirituality. Locke argues that it is with this sudden contribution that the New Negro is able to be the beneficiary of the significant efforts by the Old…

    • 1745 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    The Role Of Slavery In Toni Morrison's Beloved
    • 1801 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The Role Of Slavery In Toni Morrison's Beloved

    Toni Morrison’s Beloved is a novel that follows the life of Sethe, an escaped slave; her mindset after slavery, and the stories of other people in her life. By using distinctive time frames, the text presents various difficulties that arise in Sweet Home, a plantation in which Sethe, Paul D, Paul A, Paul F, Sicko, Halle, and Baby Suggs are previously enslaved. The novel offers ways in which the characters deal with the repercussions of slavery. The ultimate question Toni Morrison poses to readers is: Are slaves truly free after slavery? More to the point, is physical freedom synonymous to being wholly free? Morrison consistently addresses freedom apart from the physical release from slavery. The author depicts a lack of complete freedom in…

    • 1801 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Letter To Son Analysis
    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Letter To Son Analysis

    In “Letter to son” , Coates portrays it is easy to destroy black bodies through abuse and violence , claiming America’s racist history…

    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Slavery In Toni Morrison's Beloved
    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Slavery In Toni Morrison's Beloved

    Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved, powerfully represents the aftermath of slavery and how that trauma affects both the individual and the society. The ghost of Sethe’s murdered child manifests itself in Beloved, whose character serves as a symbol of all of the victims of slavery. The victims of slavery are collectively represented in Beloved’s character in order to recognize their denied humanity, as well as to attempt to seek retribution for all the wrongdoings inflicted upon them, both individually and systematically.…

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Between The World And Me Analysis
    • 1526 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Between The World And Me Analysis

    Throughout the author's life, Ta-Nehisi Coates, faced many problems which were built on the basis of him being black. His argument was that white people did not see the fear African Americans had to face everyday. The author was on a popular news show in Washington D.C for his writing. He was being interviewed on his ideas that the black and whites were still living separate and unequal. Early on in the book Ta-Nehisi Coates stated “white America’s progress, or rather the progress of those Americans who believed they are white, was built on looting and violence” emphasized how…

    • 1526 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Annotated Bibliography
    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Annotated Bibliography

    This book explains the law and surrounding debate on mandatory minimum sentences, the fulfillment of the objectives, cost and consequences, and the details of the static analysis. It additionally reviews the differences in drug quantities (level of violation) and the sentences applied.…

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Gwendolyn Bennett Heritage
    • 1193 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Gwendolyn Bennett Heritage

    Since African ‘Americans’ have arrived off of the slave ship that sailed through the middle passage, African Americans have struggled with what it means to be African and what it means to be American. Although centuries have passed since the chattel slave ship filled with Africans has landed on American soil, even presently today African Americans are caught in an internal power struggle between being an American and being an African American as well. Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, and Gwendolyn Bennet are phenomenal African American poets who perfectly depict the internal conflict of being stuck between two clashing cultures. The poets not only describe the struggle of being African and American but they also describe what Africa means…

    • 1193 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More

Related Topics