(A resurch paper on)In the chapter “Of Spiritual Strivings” of The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. DuBois describes double-consciousness as a notion of two-ness, of the black American looking at themselves through a veil, seeing themselves through the eyes of another. DuBois writes
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 two-ness, 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 does not wish to Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He wouldn’t bleach his Negro blood 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 (5).
Essay Prompt:
Choose three of the following African American poems:
Phillis Wheatley “On Being Brought from Africa to America”
Claude McKay “If We Must Die”
Paul Laurence Dunbar “We Wear The Mask”
Langston Hughes “I, Too, Sing America”
Maya Angelou “Caged Bird
Tupac Shakur “The Rose That Grew From Concrete”
Claudia Rankine “from Citizen
Amanda Gorman “The Hill We Climb”.
Then answer the following research question:
How does the poet connect or reject with DuBois’s idea of double-consciousness?
When answering this question, you must identify and employ DuBois’s idea of double-consciousness in your chosen poems, consider how the author uses poetic elements (i.e., symbolism, rhyme, voice, theme, speaker, language, metaphor, diction, syntax, etc.) to support or reject DuBois’s idea of doubleness. All of which must be included in your analysis.
