souls of black folk

Chelsey Wilkins
The Souls of Black Folk

1. The Souls of Black Folks tells the life of African Americans in the early twentieth century. Chapter 1 started the book heading straight to the core of the novel. It tells of the social and political mishaps that occurred during the pre through post civil war. Du Bois brings the critical question… “How does it feel to be a problem,” by telling the story of how he came to believe he is different from those he went to school with. “In the schoolhouse, the boys and girls bought gorgeous visiting cards-ten cents a package- and exchange them…the exchange was merry till one girl took a glance at mine and refused my card.” Du Bois used this credible story to show how being a “problem” can affect a person socially and emotionally. The effect of being a child discriminated against showed the severity of the term a “problem”... Du Bois notes that this is the first time he notices that he is different from others, a veil between them socially and never again would he try to blend in with society.
Another interpretation of a “problem” could be not African Americans as a whole but the burden they put on the government politically. Du Bois mentioned many government actions to assist African Americans beginning with Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation. Problem in the form of a noun, Bu Bois describes as something unavoidable. Falling under political efforts to assist the African American problems would be the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifthteenth amendments. As well as the freedman’s bureau and other federal bureaus set up to help the African American “problems.”
To conclude, Du Bios is crazy. The only difference I comprehend between the differences of the word problem would be one defined as the actual African American and the second definition would be all African Americans including their emotional, political, and social problems in a whole. Whichever way you understand him, he used personal feelings that allowed him the advantage of strong diction to help create the difference between being a problem as an African American and the African American problem as a whole.



2. The moment Du Bois came to know his white classmates see him as different and beneath them, set the base of the novel. I think a personal aspect or example is better than a story of someone else because credibility is important and it helped capture the essence of the life changing moment. Only Du Bois could describe his emotions as he felt left out or should I say masked by a “vast veil.” Du Bois uses this personal experience to capture pathos.
Pathos is affiliated in his rigorous goals to achieve over and above the whites. Including beating his classmates at examination-time, or even beating them at a foot race showed to me that obviously Du Bois felt the need to compete with his white classmate’s maybe to prove that he was of equal talent or altitude as white classmates. Unfortunately, Du Bois was proven insufficient. Although he could take a test as fast as white classmates could or maybe he was faster than they were, it did not matter because African Americans were still the minority race. Du Bois writing this excerpt in first person helps the audience become more in tuned with his emotions.
To conclude, Du Bios felt unfulfilled about being a minority race. Using personal experiences only furthered the effect of pathos throughout the novel. His intentions to prove to be of equal intelligence with white classmates was far past insuffient because African Americans no matter what abilities they occupied would still face racism.