¶ … Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois
The Theme of Double-Consciousness in The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois
In his literary work, The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. Du Bois discusses the history of the enslavement and struggle of black Americans in the American society for years. In this essay, Du Bois talks about the glorious history, and gradual decline of the black American race as they were put into bondage by the European colonizers in the early 17th to 18th centuries. The history of the glorious black American race is followed hereafter by a discussion of the enslavement of the race, wherein Africans were transported to America to serve as workers and servants to the European-descent inhabitants of the 'New World' (America). The author further extends his discussion and analysis by studying the long history of enslavement, the lives and experiences of black American slaves...
The author describes the phenomenon of double-consciousness as follows: "... The Negro... gifted with a second-sight in this American world, -- a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world." This assertion is loaded, since it implies a social problem not confronted openly by both the American and black American communities -- that is, the black Americans' bondage to American rule and control results to an alteration of the social realities of the individual (black American), where his/her perception of the "self" is heavily influenced by the…
