The Souls Of Black Folk Sparknotes
The Souls of Black folk is a book of essays by W.E.B Du Bois, an African American writer and social activist born and raised in New England. Up to this day Souls of Black folk is considered one of the best books striving to describe the hardships of African-American community in the USA after the Civil War. As for my essay I am going to give a short introduction and explain what the forethought is talking about, and proceed to draw lines that connect those three. I will finish off with a personal opinion on the book and the themes it talks about.
Forethought:
In the forethought the writer provides us with a careful insight in the structure of his book, and every essay therein. The forethought is very important part of this book, as it gives …show more content…
us insight in writers’ view of the book, and tells us which way to read the book. Du Bois introduces us to the principle of the Veil. The Veil is an imaginary line between white and black people of America, a kind of a curtain all black people live behind. It represents the hardships and problems black people are facing, but most importantly represents all the prejudice that stops an African-American from becoming a vital part of the American society.
Connection between the forethought and the first chapter of the book “Of our spiritual strivings” The first chapter of the book is called “Of our spiritual strivings”. In order for the reader to easily understand the main topics of this chapter I will divide it into two main parts. Those two parts are the two main themes Du Bois talks about in this chapter, “being a problem” and “the Veil”. This chapter starts off with Du Bois explaining the societal position of African – Americans as being a problem as soon as they were born. And the main reason for being a problem was skin color.
"They approach me in a half-hesitant sort of way, eye me curiously or compassionately, and then instead of saying directly, How does it feel like to be a problem, they say, I know an excellent colored man in my town, or..."
In this citation, Du Bois gives an example of how he is being approached, and how white men think that African-Americans are a problem. He gives an amazing credibility to his thesis by using a personal example as one of the arguments. He introduces us to the story of his life, to the story about how he realized he was “a problem”, He was in elementary school, and as an assignment had to give each other cards. However, one of the white girls did not want to accept his card. This is the first time Du Bois encounters that his skin color may limit his life achievements. He also mentions that this case is what made him pursue academic and writing greatness. The notion of black people being a problem leads us to a second main theme of this chapter – “The Veil”, which is also how this chapter connects with the forethought. As I have mentioned in the foreword it is an imaginary curtain that divides white of black people. It is a notion that black people, no matter how hard they try will always be primarily viewed as a problem of the society because of their skin color. Even if you are a new generation, born after the Emancipation act in 1863, and you were not even living during the slavery and civil war, you will always be marked as less valued solely because of your skin color. Connection between forethought and the second chapter of the book “of the dawn of freedom”
The second chapter of the book is named “of the dawn of freedom”. In this chapter of the book Du Bois mentions two main topics. Those are the “Freedman Bureau” and “modern means of enslavement”. Freedman Bureau was first established in 1865 by Abraham Lincoln. In this chapter the writer tells us a complete story of the Freedmen bureau, its ups and downs. It also tells the story of how have the Freedmen bureau and emancipation act released black men from slavery, but at the same time, many other basic human rights were still far out of reach of an everyday black man. As an example he mentions the fact that black people were not chained anymore, but have still been seen only as a workforce that will help the economy, as merely numbers, especially in the South. Another example he mentions is the fact that a black man could get a land to work on, but it could never be too big, and would be just enough for people to live, but never to become rich and thus would always stay partially enslaved. At the end Du Bois says that in his opinion the main problem was still a color- line, a Veil, and that Negro man was to be suppressed and even though not chained, in a lot of ways still a slave to the country of whites. By making this connection writer points our attention towards the forethought and the first chapter, and the problems of color – line and the Veil in the life of an African American.
Conclusion:
The Souls of The Black Folk is an amazing piece of literature, but also of history.
The books is written using an amazing choice of words, which probably biggest poetry writers of the 20th century wouldn’t be ashamed of. Besides that it provides us with an amazing historical insight in the social problems and life of an ordinary African American men in the 19th and 20th century. Du Bois clearly uses a lot of sentiment and emotional appeal to his readers, starting from segregation he lived through in school, all the way to him losing his first born son. From a forethought, till the last chapter this is a book that according to my opinion gives an amazing mix of a literary and historic information. Even if you are not a history lover, you would definitely enjoy it because of its writing style. It gives us insight from the other side of “the veil”, from an extraordinary man that has lived his life on the side of the black folk, and has faced obstacles that ordinary black men were facing during this particular time in history. Forethought gives us an introduction and tells us how to read the book, introduces the notion of the “veil”. First and second chapter talk about it in much more depth. Even though this is a book of essays, you can just see how the writer has made the connection from one to another, so that while moving on to the next chapter you still get the notion of reading the same story, a story of hardships of a normal African American person, a story a lot of people could relate to. Even though we were not obliged to read the whole book, personally I have read it all in a day, because of the impact it has had on me. And definitely, from this point on, for anyone looking into position of the black people in 19th and 20th century US, this book will be my first
recommendation.
Forethought:
In the forethought the writer provides us with a careful insight in the structure of his book, and every essay therein. The forethought is very important part of this book, as it gives …show more content…
us insight in writers’ view of the book, and tells us which way to read the book. Du Bois introduces us to the principle of the Veil. The Veil is an imaginary line between white and black people of America, a kind of a curtain all black people live behind. It represents the hardships and problems black people are facing, but most importantly represents all the prejudice that stops an African-American from becoming a vital part of the American society.
Connection between the forethought and the first chapter of the book “Of our spiritual strivings” The first chapter of the book is called “Of our spiritual strivings”. In order for the reader to easily understand the main topics of this chapter I will divide it into two main parts. Those two parts are the two main themes Du Bois talks about in this chapter, “being a problem” and “the Veil”. This chapter starts off with Du Bois explaining the societal position of African – Americans as being a problem as soon as they were born. And the main reason for being a problem was skin color.
"They approach me in a half-hesitant sort of way, eye me curiously or compassionately, and then instead of saying directly, How does it feel like to be a problem, they say, I know an excellent colored man in my town, or..."
In this citation, Du Bois gives an example of how he is being approached, and how white men think that African-Americans are a problem. He gives an amazing credibility to his thesis by using a personal example as one of the arguments. He introduces us to the story of his life, to the story about how he realized he was “a problem”, He was in elementary school, and as an assignment had to give each other cards. However, one of the white girls did not want to accept his card. This is the first time Du Bois encounters that his skin color may limit his life achievements. He also mentions that this case is what made him pursue academic and writing greatness. The notion of black people being a problem leads us to a second main theme of this chapter – “The Veil”, which is also how this chapter connects with the forethought. As I have mentioned in the foreword it is an imaginary curtain that divides white of black people. It is a notion that black people, no matter how hard they try will always be primarily viewed as a problem of the society because of their skin color. Even if you are a new generation, born after the Emancipation act in 1863, and you were not even living during the slavery and civil war, you will always be marked as less valued solely because of your skin color. Connection between forethought and the second chapter of the book “of the dawn of freedom”
The second chapter of the book is named “of the dawn of freedom”. In this chapter of the book Du Bois mentions two main topics. Those are the “Freedman Bureau” and “modern means of enslavement”. Freedman Bureau was first established in 1865 by Abraham Lincoln. In this chapter the writer tells us a complete story of the Freedmen bureau, its ups and downs. It also tells the story of how have the Freedmen bureau and emancipation act released black men from slavery, but at the same time, many other basic human rights were still far out of reach of an everyday black man. As an example he mentions the fact that black people were not chained anymore, but have still been seen only as a workforce that will help the economy, as merely numbers, especially in the South. Another example he mentions is the fact that a black man could get a land to work on, but it could never be too big, and would be just enough for people to live, but never to become rich and thus would always stay partially enslaved. At the end Du Bois says that in his opinion the main problem was still a color- line, a Veil, and that Negro man was to be suppressed and even though not chained, in a lot of ways still a slave to the country of whites. By making this connection writer points our attention towards the forethought and the first chapter, and the problems of color – line and the Veil in the life of an African American.
Conclusion:
The Souls of The Black Folk is an amazing piece of literature, but also of history.
The books is written using an amazing choice of words, which probably biggest poetry writers of the 20th century wouldn’t be ashamed of. Besides that it provides us with an amazing historical insight in the social problems and life of an ordinary African American men in the 19th and 20th century. Du Bois clearly uses a lot of sentiment and emotional appeal to his readers, starting from segregation he lived through in school, all the way to him losing his first born son. From a forethought, till the last chapter this is a book that according to my opinion gives an amazing mix of a literary and historic information. Even if you are not a history lover, you would definitely enjoy it because of its writing style. It gives us insight from the other side of “the veil”, from an extraordinary man that has lived his life on the side of the black folk, and has faced obstacles that ordinary black men were facing during this particular time in history. Forethought gives us an introduction and tells us how to read the book, introduces the notion of the “veil”. First and second chapter talk about it in much more depth. Even though this is a book of essays, you can just see how the writer has made the connection from one to another, so that while moving on to the next chapter you still get the notion of reading the same story, a story of hardships of a normal African American person, a story a lot of people could relate to. Even though we were not obliged to read the whole book, personally I have read it all in a day, because of the impact it has had on me. And definitely, from this point on, for anyone looking into position of the black people in 19th and 20th century US, this book will be my first
recommendation.