Topic > Malcolm Malcolm X became Coates' favorite writer. The image of a young Malcolm dressed in a sharp suit, his tie hanging askew with one hand parting a window curtain and the other holding a rifle, communicated everything the writer aspired to be: “ controlled, intelligent and beyond fear.” The desire to overcome the ever-present sense of fear led the author to look for role models who seemed to have overcome his own. The essential question of Coates' memoir is "How can I live free in this black body?" He asks himself and other black people how they can live freely, without a constant presence of fear in America. On a deeper level, he also wonders how to transcend the fear and racism he has experienced throughout his life and find a way to live peacefully in a world that doesn't seem to want him. According to Coates, fear was the motivating factor in his youth. He feared the violence of the streets every day - the street gangs that threatened him and his property, the physical punishment at home by his parents - for an enormous amount of time just trying to avoid being targeted and hurt. As a result, he grew up with the expectation that violence would be an inevitable part of life, fearing for his safety because of the color of his skin. Living in this constant sense of terror he developed a heightened sense of awareness that followed him into adulthood, a similar sentiment that echoes Malcolm black people in America today are beginning to view our situation or our predicament in this society as that of a prisoner.” Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Coates first used poetry as a means to express his feelings and thoughts when he was a student at Howard University. He absorbed new ideas through literature and his experiences in Mecca, then visited coffeehouses throughout Washington D.C. for poetry readings. We can still see evidence of poetic influence in Coates' writing through the use of phrases such as "the Mecca", "the dream" and "those who believe they are white". Furthermore, these words and phrases used in Between The World and Me echo those of Malcolm to be remembered on some parish day. But I don't believe in death, I will die too. And the violas like castanets will echo me." Sanchez wrote this eulogy for Malcolm X after his assassination. Sanchez's eulogy reveals how Malcolm X did not die for memory, but lived for a cause and for change. The idea that Malcolm Coates also explores racial reclamation in his work, pleading for a return to one's true self and home, a return he describes as Mecca. Coates even refers to Howard University, in particular, as Mecca, where several members of his family attended school. He was admitted to the historically black college (though he later dropped out), where he was introduced to various black experiences. Similarly, towards the end of his memoir, Coates describes the sense of unity among those who gathered to celebrate the return..