Caleb Elijah

Rosario/Schecter

AP Lang And Comp

December 1st 2017

Title of paper

In the book “Between the World and me”, Ta-Nehisi Coates claims that African

americans are being abused in this country. The author writes in a empathic and formal tone for

his son and for the rest of america. Coates supports his claim by using pathos, diction and to help

explain his own experience with this abuse. The author’s purpose is to inform people about the

inequality in this country in order so that we can take steps to having a better nation.

Coates used many tactics to give the reader a better understanding to how his point of

view is unique. One of the best ways that I believe that he does this is his use of diction. Diction

is a rhetorical choice were the words that you chose changes the feel of a sentence. A great

example of diction in Coates writing can be found in page two paragraph two where he states

this,”America believes itself exceptional, the greatest and noblest nation ever to exist, a lone

champion standing between the white city of democracy and the terrorist, despots, barbarons and

other enemies of civilization.” This quote is trying to convey the message that the people of

america view themselves as a last bastion to the “dangers” of democracy and all who oppose.

The use of diction helps give the sentence a deeper meaning. By using the word barbaron it gives

the feeling that everyone that is not have a democratic government as an animal. Compare the

word barbaron and uncivil and the difference in severity becomes even more pronounced both
words are similar but they act completely different in a sentence. Another time that Coates uses

diction can be found on page 6 paragraph 2 where he writes “Comparing these dispatches with

the facts of my native world, I came to understand that my country was a galaxy, and this galaxy

stretched from the pandemonium of West Baltimore to the happy hunting grounds

Mr.Belvedere.” In this quote Coates is Comparing America to a galaxy and how on different

sides of this galaxy could be two different mentalities. Diction is presented in this quote because

of the complex wording that helps give a more detailed view for the reader. Using the word

Pandemonium instead of a word like commotion gives the read a much better feel for what he's

saying.

Coates use of diction was not the only thing that helped his writing. Coates also used

logos to bring home his points and give insurance to his readers. Logos is when an writer puts

logic or a fact that you can not dispute. An example of coats using logos is found on page 8

paragraph 3 where he writes this “Fully 60 percent of all young black men who dropout of high

school will go to jail. In this quote coates is presawing the fact that a majority of black men who

dropout of high school will be in jail at one point of there lives. This Quote he uses the statistic

to help prove his point, because it is a percentage, it leads the reader to believe that it must be

true.

Out of all the rhetorical choices that coats make I think that the most abundant in Coates

book is Pathos. Pathos is when a writer conveys emotion through his writing. An example of

Pathos in Coates writing can be found in page 3 paragraph 4 where he states “ When I was your

age the only people I knew were black, and all of them were powerfully, adamantly, dangerously

afraid.” In This quote Coates is speaking about when was much younger than he is now; he
speaks about how when he was the age of his son he was very fearful of his safety. This adds

emotion and character to his book which may reflect into the reader.