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Ta- Nehisi Coates journey’s through writing by revealing things he learned during his student life at Howard University. In this excerpt derived from a letter to his son, Between the World and Me, he tells about writing and things he learned about it. Also, he seems significantly focused on the issue of African-Americans as he explores issues of inequality and racism. In this paper, several turning points that are worth noting and other important points are discussed.
Question one
The turning points in the excerpt occur where the author gains new knowledge about something. Such incidences include he notes that pursuit of knowledge is as important as life. In this, he says, “The pursuit of knowing was freedom to me” (Greene and April 22). Another instance occurs when he realizes that a dream is the enemy of art, courageous thinking, and honest thinking. The reason for this is that a dream replaces process and experience in writing. To him, the experience is important, and he prefers journeying “with black people who knew the length of the road because they had traveled it too” (Greene and April 22). At a time, the author realizes that he noticed he had never written anything alone. He notes that being with other writers is important.
From these turning points, few important things the writer seems to learn are that poetry is the art of thinking and honest writing. As such, it aims at the economy of truth and authors should be limited to words and phrases.

Therefore, if words, phrases, and thoughts are unnecessary, writers should avoid them. Here, the author insists that simplicity in writing. The other important this is that questioning the logic of the claim is important. For example, he asks, “Where should I begin?” as a way of thinking about things to learn (Greene and April 21). Also, his critical thoughts as a writer are evident in questions he asks about the themes addressed. For example, he asks “How did Europe underdevelop Africa? … If the 18th-century pharaohs were alive, would they live in Harlem?”(Greene and April 21). Ideally, such questions are important as they help understands subject as a writer and engage critical thoughts.
Question two
The incidence most interesting is when he realizes poetry. He says he realized his friend Hayden, a poet, “could say without saying anything at all – literally writing the words” (Greene and April 23). He, however, warns that poetry requires simplicity (shortness of words, phrases, and thoughts), courageous thinking, and honest thinking. For this reason, poetry ends up beings the art of thinking to achieve steel of truths in life.
Works Cited
Greene, Stuart, and April Lidinsky. “Chapter 1: Starting with Inquiry: Habits of Mind of Academic Writers,” From Inquiry to Academic Writing: A Practical Guide. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2018. Print.
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