The Souls of Black Folk - Essay Example

The Black Veil in The Souls of Black Folk W.E.B. Du Bois attempted to address the issues that existed between black people and white people during his time. Born shortly after the Civil War and dying early on during the civil rights movement, Du Bois lived in a world of prejudice, hatred, and legalized discrimination. Through his writings, he attempted to voice his concerns over these issues and suggest ways in which these problems could be amended. One idea in particular that Du Bois developed in his best known work, The Souls of Black folk, is the idea of the black veil. Through the metaphor of the veil, Du Bois commented on the willful ignorance that white people showed towards the conditions that black people were forced to endure. Du Bois first introduces the idea of the veil in the first section of the book, which is called The Forethought: “I have sketched in swift outline the two worlds within and without the Veil, and thus have come to the central problem of training men for life” (877-878). Notice that the first mention of the veil is capitalized, signifying particular importance. He has already stated that “the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line” (877), and with these two assertions, Du Bois is attempting draw a connection between the way black people are treated and the main issues of the Twentieth Century. Dubois then describes his first experience with the veil and the realization that he is seen as different by others when he is snubbed by a young girl in school: “Then it dawned on me with a certain suddenness that I was different from the others; or like, mayhap, in heart and life and longing, but shut out from their world by a vast veil” (879). This initial experience is one from which will change his perception of the world; the veil was always there, but it took this event for him to realize that it was there. There must be similar events for all of those forced to wear the veil, though some would experience it before others. As Du Bois sketches it, we can see that, though nothing was done to deserve it, all black people during this time were forced to wear the veil. The story of those who wear the veil is the story of struggle. As Du Bois says, “Leaving, then, the world of the white man, I have stepped within the Veil, raising it that you may view faintly its deeper recesses,--the meaning of its religion, the passion of its human sorrow, and the struggle of its greater souls” (878). Yet Du Bois illustrated a different method from tearing down the veil; he sought to rise above it. To tear down the veil would mean to still stay within its confines; one can rebel against something, yet it remains attached to that person because that person is now a certain way after having rebelled against something, such as the veil. It was too low for Du Bois to merely tear through the veil; he rose above the veil by surpassing his fellow students: “That sky was bluest when I could beat my mates at examination-time, or beat them in a foot race, or even beat their stringy heads” (879). To further implicate the veil as something that black people are born with, Du Bois states that “the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with a second sight in this American World” (879). The second sight is the ability to see the world inside of the veil and also see what it is like on the outside. That is the purpose of the veil, to not see what is on the inside. Black people are able to see what it is like on both sides because for one they live on the inside, and two because they can see how white people live on the outside of the veil. This use of the term veil is perhaps most significant in this aspect. There are two kinds of people that wear veils: those who wear the veil to hide their own face, and those who are forced to wear the veil by others. Du Bois has already made clear to which kind of veil he is referring. By referring to the problems that exist between the races as a veil, Du Bois is stating that those that are forcing others to wear the veil are aware of the problem. They are aware of the problem, but they willfully wish to pretend that it doesn’t exist by forcing those suffering to hide the problem. It is something that they simply want to not see. Without the recognition that there was a problem, there would be no need for a veil in the first place. This implies that the hardships that black people had to suffer were not merely in existence because white people were unaware of what was happening. It was a willful ignoring of the problems in existence, and this is even more condemning than merely being unaware. It is easy to state that there is a problem without stating exactly what the problem is. This, however, makes for a weaker argument, because it is only with real examples of how things are affected in real life that an argument becomes concrete. As Du Bois saw it, the problems facing black people that were hidden by the veil were thus: 1. The disfranchisement of the Negro. 2. The legal creation of a distinct status of civil inferiority for the Negro. 3. The steady withdrawal of aid from institutions for the higher training of the Negro (889). Du Bois realizes that this is not a simple matter that can be resolved overnight. Rather, it necessitates conditions for those facing the difficulties to be able to establish a firm foundation: “A people thus handicapped ought not to be asked to race with the world, but rather allowed to give all its time and thought to its own social problems” (882). This corresponds to the ideas of the veil in that Du Bois knows that it won’t be a simple matter of lifting the veil and all problems being solved, and an entire race that has thus been handicapped cannot simply rise above the veil as Du Bois earlier described in his experience surpassing his classmates. Even though they do not wish to see the problems, the veil is still a reminder that the problem exists. But for the problems to be solved, attention must be brought to them. Since they have been hidden away behind a veil, Du Bois necessarily needed to draw attention to the veil. Hiding is no way to solve problems, and the problems that existed in the relations between whites and blacks during Du Bois’ time were not simply just going to go away by ignoring them. The civil rights movement of the 60’s helped to ease the problems Du Bois discussed when referring to the veil, but that is not to say that the veil has been completely lifted. The veil exists to willfully hide and ignore problems, and this is something that simply must not be done. As Du Bois stated, the problem of the Twentieth Century really did turn out to be issues related to the color-line. The veil is a powerful metaphor, and it can also be related to other minorities and the women’s rights movement. This, the idea of the veil, is one of the many ideas that made Du Bois’ writings so powerful and for which he will surely be remembered. Works Cited Du Bois, W.E.B., The Souls of Black Folk. The Norton Anthology of American Literature, ed. Nina Baym, New York, W.W. Norton Company, 2003. Read More