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Ta-Nehisi Coates Letter To My Son

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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.
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