1. I think Coates chose the title, “Between the world and me,” based off of the poem by Richard Wright because it captures the horrors of living within a black body, of witnessing the death of other black bodies during a brutally racist time in America’s history. The speaker becomes stunned with fear as he creates a barrier between himself and the outside world. The poem confirms Coates fear of black violence while he writes his letter.

2. Coates says, “I have spent much of my studies searching for the right question by which I might fully understand the breach between the world and me.” Here Coates mentions the poem/title of his own work as he asks how to connect race within society, his body in place with all other bodies. It is clear here, that there is no one question, nor one answer to this issue.