Title: PROTOTYPE COLUMN

Read the excerpt and complete the assignments

Title: The Souls of Black Folk
Author: W.E.B. Du Bois

Between me and the other world there is ever an unasked question: unasked by some through feelings of delicacy; by others through the difficulty of rightly framing it. All, nevertheless, flutter round it. They approach me in a half-hesitant sort of way, eye me curiously or compassionately, and then, instead of saying directly, How does it feel to be a problem? they say, I know an excellent colored man in my town; or, I fought at Mechanicsville; or, Do not these Southern outrages make your blood boil? At these I smile, or am interested, or reduce the boiling to a simmer, as the occasion may require. To the real question, How does it feel to be a problem? I answer seldom a word.

And yet, being a problem is a strange experience,—peculiar even for one who has never been anything else, save perhaps in babyhood and in Europe. It is in the early days of rollicking boyhood that the revelation first bursts upon one, all in a day, as it were. I remember well when the shadow swept across me. I was a little thing, away up in the hills of New England, where the dark Housatonic winds between Hoosac and Taghkanic to the sea. In a wee wooden schoolhouse, something put it into the boys' and girls' heads to buy gorgeous visiting-cards—ten cents a package—and exchange. The exchange was merry, till one girl, a tall newcomer, refused my card,—refused it peremptorily, with a glance. Then it dawned upon me with a certain suddenness that I was different from the others; or like, mayhap, in heart and life and longing, but shut out from their world by a vast veil. I had thereafter no desire to tear down that veil, to creep through; I held all beyond it in common contempt, and lived above it in a region of blue sky and great wandering shadows. That sky was bluest when I could beat my mates at examination-time, or beat them at a foot-race, or even beat their stringy heads. Alas, with the years all this fine contempt began to fade; for the words I longed for, and all their dazzling opportunities, were theirs, not mine. But they should not keep these prizes, I said; some, all, I would wrest from them. Just how I would do it I could never decide: by reading law, by healing the sick, by telling the wonderful tales that swam in my head,—some way. With other black boys the strife was not so fiercely sunny: their youth shrank into tasteless sycophancy, or into silent hatred of the pale world about them and mocking distrust of everything white; or wasted itself in a bitter cry, Why did God make me an outcast and a stranger in mine own house? The shades of the prison-house closed round about us all: walls strait and stubborn to the whitest, but relentlessly narrow, tall, and unscalable to sons of night who must plod darkly on in resignation, or beat unavailing palms against the stone, or steadily, half hopelessly, watch the streak of blue above.

After the Egyptian and Indian, the Greek and Roman, the Teuton and Mongolian, the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with 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. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.

The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife,—this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face.

This, then, is the end of his striving: to be a co-worker in the kingdom of culture, to escape both death and isolation, to husband and use his best powers and his latent genius. These powers of body and mind have in the past been strangely wasted, dispersed, or forgotten. The shadow of a mighty Negro past flits through the tale of Ethiopia the Shadowy and of Egypt the Sphinx. Through history, the powers of single black men flash here and there like falling stars, and die sometimes before the world has rightly gauged their brightness. Here in America, in the few days since Emancipation, the black man's turning hither and thither in hesitant and doubtful striving has often made his very strength to lose effectiveness, to seem like absence of power, like weakness. And yet it is not weakness,—it is the contradiction of double aims.

Essay

Q: Summarize the main points W.E.B. Du Bois presents in the excerpt from 'The Souls of Black Folk'.
A: In the excerpt from "The Souls of Black Folk," W.E.B. Du Bois explores the experience of African Americans in a society that views them as a problem. He recounts his childhood realization of being viewed differently because of his race and introduces the concept of the "veil" that separates Black people from the white world. Du Bois describes the idea of "double-consciousness," where African Americans see themselves through their own eyes and through the perceptions of others. He discusses the internal struggle to merge these dual identities without losing either and emphasizes the desire for acceptance as both Negro and American without facing discrimination or lost opportunities.
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Essay

Q: Analyse the concept of 'double-consciousness' as presented in the excerpt.
A: In the excerpt from "The Souls of Black Folk," W.E.B. Du Bois introduces the concept of "double-consciousness" to describe the inner conflict experienced by African Americans. He portrays this idea as a sense of "twoness," wherein an individual is both an American and a Negro, possessing two souls and two thoughts that are in constant opposition. This dual identity forces African Americans to view themselves through the lens of a society that regards them with contempt and pity. Du Bois explains that this internal struggle hinders the attainment of a unified self-consciousness and true self-realization. The "double-consciousness" is thus a profound psychological challenge, reflecting the broader societal divisions and the struggle for African Americans to reconcile their heritage with the demands of a prejudiced American society.
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Essay

Q: Discuss the significance of the concept of 'double-consciousness' in the excerpt and its impact on the narrator's identity.
A: In the excerpt from "The Souls of Black Folk," W.E.B. Du Bois introduces the concept of "double-consciousness," describing it as a "peculiar sensation... of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others." This concept is significant as it captures the internal struggle of the narrator, who is torn between his identity as an American and as a Negro. The "double-consciousness" leads to a feeling of "twoness," creating "two warring ideals in one dark body." This internal conflict impacts the narrator's identity by causing a rift within himself, where he cannot fully embrace either side without the other being marginalized. The metaphor of the "veil" further emphasizes his separation from the rest of society, as he is forced to see himself not just as he is, but as others perceive him. The impact on his identity is profound, leading to a longing to merge his "double self into a better and truer self" without losing any part of his heritage. Thus, the significance of "double-consciousness" lies in its portrayal of the deep psychological effects of racism and exclusion on the individual's sense of self.
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