2. On page 17 Coates talks about “being afraid of those who love us most.” He discusses the punishment by form of beatings and lashings of him and his black classmates by their parents. He says that these beatings couldn’t save them all. He implies a relationship between pain, fear, love, and the body. A question I have for him is, does he still believe that fear lives with love, or does he wish his parents had taught him differently?

3. On page 12 Coates says, “I tell you now that the question of how one should live in a black body, within a country lost in the Dream, is the question of my life. Coates explains that the “Dream” is unrealistic for many due to factors such as poverty and race. My question for Coates asks what the new “dream” should be?