The Souls Of Black Folk Analysis

Words: 780
Pages: 4
Open Document
In chapter one: On Our Spiritual Strivings in “The Souls of Black Folk” W.E.B. DuBois explains how racism has been a problem in society for decades. People have made progress in achieving equality; however, there are always more actions to be taken to improve the lives of many individuals. African Americans treatment over the years has been poor and they had to be willing to join other races, learn to write, obtain an education, and make their vote matter in order to get to the equality they have today. In “The Souls of Black Folk” DuBois demonstrates how people were treated as inferior due to race and explains how different races should come together as one. After slavery was over, African Americans dreamed of equality but everyday segregation …show more content…
DuBois illustrates in chapter one of “The Souls of Black Folk” how African Americans were viewed as weak but in reality they were just as capable as whites and that education and voting can help reach their goals. DuBois writes, “And yet it is not weakness,-- it is the contradiction of double aims” (pg. 3 paragraph 5). He is explaining how African Americans as a race and as individuals view themselves different from the way other people, like whites, view them. DuBois believes to reach equality certain steps need to be taken, he writes “we cannot write, our voting is vain; what need of education since we must always cook and serve?” (pg. 7 paragraph 14). DuBois is focusing on the way African Americans are viewed and recommending to achieve equality they need to learn how to write, get education, and make voting matter. The words “weakness” and “vain” further deepen the idea that African Americans are not as important and they don’t have much to offer. W.E.B. DuBois suggests to improve their treatment and gain equality it is important to take a …show more content…
DuBois states, “The shades of the prison-house closed round about us all” (pg.1 paragraph 2). He implies life for African Americans was like being kept away and losing oneself in some sort of way. Many did not feel comfortable and felt held back due to society. This did not hold back a variety of African Americans instead it inspired individuals to turn the public standard around. Dubois concentrates on this mindset when writing, “The training of deft hands, quick eyes and ears, and above all the broader, deeper, higher culture of gifted minds and pure hearts” (pg.8 paragraph 14). This is explaining how people needed to broadcast their strengths to prove to whites they were capable. Also, it explains it is essential to show the best traits one has and to expose one’s personality to prove African Americans are human, not anything less. DuBois uses the words “prison” to develop more thoroughly the cruel treatment of African Americans by whites. The use of “gifted minds” and “pure hearts” suggests even though the appearances are different the insides are the same and have a lot to offer to the
Show More

Related Documents: The Souls Of Black Folk Analysis

Rhetorical Analysis On The Souls Of Black Folk

The Souls of Black Folk and Our Spiritual Strivings William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts on February 23, 1868. He became the first African American to earn his PhD from Harvard University in 1896. In 1903, W.E.B Du Bois wrote a book called The Souls of Black Folk, which addresses the struggles of being black in America. Six years later, Du Bois and other intellectuals founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The Souls of Black…

Words 482 - Pages 2

Compare And Contrast Dunbar And W. E. B. Dubois

internal struggle that Black Americans encounter in life but it does not limit this experience to that community. This struggle has resulted in the development of Double conscious within society overall. Dunbar and Du-Bois writings demonstrates the double conscious struggle within the Black community, how it affect us internally and our successes within society. Taking the poem “We wear the Mask” by Paul Lawrence Dunbar displays how double consciousness is effective within the Black community and society…

Words 1281 - Pages 6

Double Consciousness and the Stranger Essay examples

Throughout history, Georg Simmel and W.E.B. Du Bois have had a significant influence on important theories and ideas developed in the Social Sciences. Perhaps two of the most relevant and well-known concepts developed by both of these theorists are the concepts of “double consciousness” and “the stranger”. In this paper I will be analyzing both of these pieces of work to draw upon differences and similarities between the two. The similarities I will be elaborating on are the usage of the paradoxical…

Words 1543 - Pages 7

Love: Amiri Baraka and Close Reading Essay

particular meaning of racial identity in the text. There is no need for your argument to seek to encompass all aspects of race. Your thesis should be developed and proven in the body of the essay through the close analysis of the source itself. Close reading is the foundation of analysis, and your argumentation must be based on specific textual evidence. When close reading a text, that evidence comes in the form of quotations from the source. When working with evidence, the first thing to recognize…

Words 1121 - Pages 5

Ruby Bridges Research Paper

Ruby Bridges. At the age of six, Ruby had something to do with the cause of the Civil Rights Movement. It was November of 1960 when she became the first African-American to integrate an all-white school. Ruby was one of the six black kids to pass an exam to show that blacks could compete with whites academically. Ruby and her mother had to be escorted by four federal marshalls every day because of the chaos going on at the school. Even though she never missed a day of school that year, she was in…

Words 805 - Pages 4

Mysoclab Social Explorer Map: Income Inequality By Race

contemporary America? Are interactions positive, negative, or neutral? Support your response using proper citations. W. E. B. Du Bois published The Souls of Black Folk, an analysis of the social standing of black people. As Du Bois saw it; even though slavery was gone, most African Americans were still living as second-class citizens. Every time black people and white people met, said Du Bois, race hung in the air, defining each in the eyes of the other. From the African American perspective, race…

Words 1020 - Pages 5

Woek: Plato and Material World Essay

realms): the world of forms (or ideas [eidos]) and the world of sense (i.e., the material world in which we humans live). (2) The soul or mind (psuche) is immortal and eternal and thereby doesn’t belong to the material world of sense but rather in the immaterial world of forms, so prior to being (re)incarnated in an ugly, corruptible, mortal body, here on earth, our souls “lived” in the world of forms, where it knew (or saw) all the eternal truths (e.g., good, true, beauty, virtue, the perfection…

Words 1086 - Pages 5

Wed Du Bois's Souls of Black Folks Essay

memories as well as historical evidence and figurative language in his arguments about the education system in the South. The first black man to earn a doctorate from Harvard University, Du Bois was in a privileged position and used his success to demonstrate that while he may have been able to attain an education, thousands of others were not. Although The Souls of Black Folks does not fit into just one type of life-writing, the specific literary tactics Du Bois employs are significant because they aid…

Words 2353 - Pages 10

Code Switching Research Paper

personal identity is a byproduct of external factors such as race, ethnicity, experiences, location, popular media, and many more. In American society, how Black women navigate and develop personal connections with identity is uniquely characterized by the intersection of race and gender-based oppression. As a result of this experience, many Black women have developed a coping strategy colloquially referred to as code switching. Code switching is any action that an individual takes to alter their natural…

Words 1594 - Pages 7

Main Rhetoric Paper

will be Forbes analysis on Richard Nixon's The Silent Majority. In this model, Forbes traces the audiences that the former president tries to reach in a time when the country had significant turmoil. He divides the speech, almost line for line, and puts each line in context to which audience Nixon is trying to persuade that he knows what he is talking about and inspire compassion. Because songs generally tend to be shorter than speeches, this line-by-line approach to audience analysis seems appropriate…

Words 2403 - Pages 10