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W.E.B. Dub Bois’ The Souls of Black Folk is a classic piece of literary art that would benefit anyone who reads it. Published exactly 100 years ago, the essays are so provocative and insightful that they still resonate in today’s society. The fact that they still resonate today could also be taken as a bad thing however, and that’s a point that will be discussed later on. One theme introduced in the book that is still particularly relevant is that of the veil, the double-consciousness that black people have. The idea was introduced 100 years ago and is still applicable today, pointing to the staying power of the writing of Du Bois; furthermore, I agree with Du Bois views on the double-consciousness First, a proper definition is in order. Du Bois gives a fairly lengthy definition of it in the book, a definition I will try to edit for brevity here. He says, “…a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world…One ever feels his twoness, an American, a Negro…in this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost…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.” In other words, black Americans are caught in between a self conception as an American and as a person of African descent, and they are trying to marry the two, if you will, combining the two into one person and culture. Before I go any, let me first state that I wasn’t living during the same time period as Du Bois, and I’m not African-American, which means I don’t have the personal experience to comment on the theory of Du Bois.
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