Souls Of A Black Folk Veil Essay

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African Americans are both blessed and cursed to be able to call two identities their own. In W.E.B. DuBois’s essay, Souls of a Black Folk, the reader learn about a veil and a double consciousness that is a part of African American identity and how it controls them in society. By having these concepts applied to their life, it can confuse and complicate their ideas of who they are in more ways than one. The double consciousness and the veil are applied in the story Passing by Nella Larsen when two mixed women, Irene and Clare, are exploring both sides of their races but are unware of how to balance both in a predominantly racist era. Although these mixed women are white and supposedly outside of their veil, they are still within the veil because …show more content…
W.E.B. DuBois in his essay, Souls of a Black Folk, introduces the veil and double consciousness and how it applies to all African Americans. “…The Negro,” DuBois states, “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” (DuBois 689). African Americans are born into a country where the aftermath of slavery follows them through every generation, but are naïve to this until two particular moments in their lives. Black people share two common memories growing up – one is when they become aware of their color, and the other is when they realize that their color is a problem to their society. Once they are aware of this, they are also aware of a veil, which creates two separate identities – black and white. Black people can see both within and outside the veil, but white people can only see outside this veil. African Americans are able to see within the veil because within is their black culture – something they are tied to through their families, their oppressions, and the color of their skin. They can also see outside the veil because before they were aware of their color, they believed
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