The Beautiful Struggle

Chapter 7 opens with Coates’s account of his failed romantic endeavors. He explains that he “was born under a lame sign” (184). He describes how the girls in his spheres would act: “Girls of Knowledge would shoot a nigger down without so much as eye contact, because they knew every smile […] compromised security” (186). Coates, at 17 years old, is coasting through his senior year with a 1.8 GPA, which is offset by his natural aptitude for standardized testing.

Coates meets Ebony, the girl “at the front of the class, [who] knew all the answers” (187). She was “black and beautiful like her name […] and […] this made her prominent to [him]” (188). She is Conscious and always laughing.

Coates’s djembe obsession continues in the dance studio, as “nothing short of religion can explain the molten feeling [he] derived from it all” (191). He even builds his own djembe, “a giant step toward seeing more” (192). That year, Coates’s PSAT scores are good enough that Mecca—Howard University—sends him a letter. He wants to get in but feigns nonchalance for fear he won’t.

Big Bill is still at Howard, struggling in school but now at least attempting to get better grades.