The Beautiful Struggle

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Chapters 1-2

Reading Check

1. What is the name of the Baltimore crew that “had no eyes,” which Coates references in Chapter 1?

2. Which sport are Coates and his brother Big Bill obsessed with?

3. What is the nickname that Coates and his brother gave their father, which was born out of their father’s work ethic and discipline?

4. Which street do Coates and his family live on in West Baltimore?

5. Which substance negatively impacts Baltimore’s civilization?

6. What educational program is Big Bill forced into to give him a taste of college?

7. What group of kids were treated like “kings” in Coates and Big Bill’s high school?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. In Chapter 1, Coates introduces his father, a significant figure in The Beautiful Struggle. What are some of his defining features? In your response, use Coates’s terminology—specifically, “Conscious Man” and “Knowledge”—to describe him.

2. Who is Big Bill, and what are some of his main characteristics?

3. Describe Coates’s narrative style. What makes it so unique, and what affect does it have on the overall story?

Paired Resource

Author Ta-Nehisi Coates on Memoir The Beautiful Struggle

• In this CBS Morning clip, Coates is interviewed about the YA adaptation of The Beautiful Struggle, which was released in 2021. (Please be advised that this clip contains commentary on the January 6th attack in the US Capitol.)
• This interview connects to the themes of Family as a Relational Force and Black Culture as Liberation.
• Why did Coates want to adapt The Beautiful Struggle for a YA audience? How does him wanting to speak directly to younger generations contribute to his mythologizing? 

Now We’re Talking: Paul Coates in Conversation with Wil S. Hylton

• Paul Coates is interviewed by Huffington Post about his exceptional life as a Black Panther, a publisher, and the father to “the most influential writer in America.”  
• This information connects to the theme of Black Culture as Liberation.
• What is it like hearing directly from Coates’s father compared to hearing about him through Coates in his memoir? Does Paul Coates match your perception of him as a character? Why or why not?

Chapters 3-4

Reading Check

1. Which war was Coates’s father a soldier in?

2. What is the name of Coates’s father’s publishing house?

3. What is Coates’s main job at the publishing house?

4. How much does Coates make per hour for his work?

5. Who are the West Side Kings?

6. Where does Coates want to go to high school?

7. Why do Coates’s parents kick Big Bill out of their house?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How did Coates’s parents first meet, as described in Chapter 3?

2. What is the “New York noise” and what does Coates learn through this “obsession”?

3. How does Chuck D help lead Coates to a greater sense of Consciousness?

Paired Resource

Malcolm X’s Fiery Speech Addressing Police Brutality

• This is a video of the 1962 speech by Malcolm X, responding to the wrongful killing of Ronald Stoakes by the Los Angeles Police Department.
• A key component of this speech is embracing Black Culture as Liberation.
• What ideals and principles in this speech do you see in Coates’s father? How about in Coates himself?

Chapters 5-6

Reading Check

1. Which university does Coates attend the summer before high school?

2. Which illicit activity does Big Bill engage in after arriving at Mecca?

3. Who is Coates’s tutor for the SATs?

4. Where is NationHouse located?

5. What is the name of the instrument that enchants and transfixes Coates?

6. What is Coates holding as he recites the pledge at the final initiation ceremony?

7. What does Big Bill do that nearly gets him in trouble with university police at Howard?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is the main reason Coates struggles as he begins his high school career in Chapter 5?

2. What are the “Great Rites” at NationHouse? What happens during the final rite?

3. How does Coates react when he is called a “punk” by one of his classmates in Chapter 6?

Paired Resource

Who We Are

• NationHouse, the school where Coates is sent in Chapter 5, is still in existence today. In the “Who We Are” page on their official website, they outline the history and mission of the school, which is to be devoted to the “preservation and transfer of Afrikan heritage.”
• This information connects to Black Culture as Liberation.
• Explore NationHouse’s website. What strikes you most about their programming? Put into Coates’s terms, how is their programming related to Knowledge?

Chapters 7-8

Reading Check

1. What is Coates’s GPA during his senior year of high school?

2. Who is the girl “at the front of the class, [who] knew all the answers” in Chapter 7?

3. What is the average grade Big Bill receives that makes his father ecstatic?

4. What system of government does Coates compares his father’s parenting style to in Chapter 8?

5. Where does Coates want to go to college, though he is eventually accepted into Howard?

6. What holiday is the BBQ celebration for at the conclusion of the memoir?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Coates opens Chapter 7 by saying that he was “born under a lame sign.” What is he referring to with this sentiment, and what larger statement does it make about his character?

2. Coates matures by the end of The Beautiful Struggle, but Coates’s father and brother also transform into new versions of themselves. What changes do they undergo? How would you describe their evolution?

Recommended Next Reads 

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

• This #1 New York Times bestselling collection of essays was published in 2015 and was written in the form of a long letter to Coates’s son, Samori. Building upon his memoir, Coates explores the relationship between father and son, particularly in the “beautiful struggle” of living as a Black person in America. In the book, he grapples with American prejudice, the Black experience, and the burden of America’s racist past.
• Originally envisioned as a letter to his son, the book connects to the themes of Family as a Relational Force and Black Culture as Liberation.
• Shared topics include racism and Black culture.
• Between the World and Me on SuperSummary

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

• The Water Dancer is Coates’s 2019 debut novel. It is a neo-slave narrative set in the mid-1800s. The protagonist, a fugitive slave, has the supernatural ability to manipulate time and space, and he becomes an agent in the Underground—an organization devoted to the destruction of slavery in the United States.
• This novel connects to the themes of Black Culture as Liberation and Everyday Life as Myth.
• Shared topics include Black identity, Black culture, and Black freedom.
• The Water Dancer on SuperSummary