Double Consciousness, By Christopher Dubois

Aws Aldajan

What DuBois means by the concept of “Double Consciousness” is that people sometimes want to feel they belong to something so they look at themselves through the eyes of others and from others perspective. In the text that we read, he is referring to the life of the African American people especially during the times of slavery when the black people were waiting for Emancipation as William described it. DuBois explained this scenario by writing “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 be lost” (4). This statement just tells us that double conscious
He expressed the thoughts of a negro by saying, “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” (4). I can relate to that because in the first place, I am here in the United States because I believe that the doors of opportunity will open to me once I finish my college degree here. Sometimes I feel that when I am here, I want to be an Arab and an American student at the same time. I said American student because I study in America and not because I have American blood and some times I feel I have to mix in with community. There are times that when somebody says that I am an international student, that sounds like I am different from them and the expectations and treatment are also different sometimes, but I’m okay with it because I feel that I’m special because I know so many things about this country and the fact that I speak two languages. However, that double-consciousness tells me that I want to be like a normal student with just the same expectations as other students while still maintaining the consciousness of the place and culture where I came