Question 3: 

Throughout this section of the book, Coates tells his son about his college experience and how it shaped him into the person he is today. He discusses several aspects of his college story such as his time spent at the library, the Yard, and in classrooms. On page 48, Coates states that, “I was made for the library, not the classroom. The classroom was a jail of other people’s interests. The library was open, unending, free.” While some people may thrive in a classroom environment, where there is direction and structure for learning, Coates found that he was driven by his own curiosity. He felt that the library was where he discovered himself. When Coates talked about his experiences at the Yard, I noticed a connection to sociology. A manifest function is the intended function of a certain social system. With college, for example, the manifest function is for students to learn about their area of study. On the other hand, latent functions are not a conscious intention of the system, yet they are still beneficial. The Yard acted as a latent function because this is where Coates, “… saw everything of my black self multiplied out into seemingly endless variations” (pg. 40). The Yard is where he met new people of all different backgrounds and interests and learned a lot from these interactions not only about others, but about himself. 

Question 4:

Throughout this section, Coates also elaborates on many of the ideas presented earlier on in the book. For example, on page 50, he says, “I had forgotten my own self-interrogations pushed upon me by my mother, or rather I had not yet apprehended their deeper, lifelong meaning.” While in college, Coates discovered the value of these writing exercises his mother made him do while growing up, or rather the value of self reflection. He found a passion for poetry because of its authenticity and confrontation of the truth. Coates felt that poetry allowed him to self reflect because, “Poetry was the processing of my thoughts until the slag of justification fell away and I was left with the cold steel truths of life” (pg. 51-52). 

Question 5:

Something that really resonated with me from this section was when Coates said, “And they gave me the art of journalism, a powerful technology for seekers” (pg. 62). I consider myself to be a “seeker” because I am always curious about learning why things are the way they are, more specifically why society is the way it is. This is what draws me to journalism, I’m curious about the world around me. I think that this book gives insight into some of these major questions such as: how and why do certain individuals gain so much power over others? But, for me, I’m still questioning: If we are aware of these issues when it comes to power and where they stem from, why do they still persist? How have we allowed for these injustices to still exist in society today and what can we do to change that?