The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois - Essay Example

The book clearly depicts the struggles and problems of African Americans during the reconstruction era and post-civil war period. The main reason why I am of the view that the text rejects European and western influence on his culture is because he uses his book to expose the harsh realities of life that black people had to face in the south. It is remembered that African Americans are descendants of Africans who were enslaved in the 16th century by Europeans. Black Africans were forcibly taken as slaves by English and Spanish colonies.

The Europeans were mainly responsible for taking Africans from their countries and sending them to the western world to work as slaves (Franklin and Moss 12). The author, being an African American, has a unique cultural background. In his book, the author does not accept the negative influence of the European and western world on his culture. The Du Bois points out that people of his culture were denied basic human rights for way too long. For example, in chapter 1 of his book, he notes that for the longest time, blacks were not allowed to vote, have access to good education and were not treated with justice and equality (Du Bois 4).

This leads the author to introduce the concept of ‘double-consciousness’ and advice his fellow African Americans not to look at themselves in the eyes of ‘others’. ‘Others’ in this case refers to all those who consider that they are better than the African Americans and all those that despise and look down upon them. The author manifests the problem of the ‘color-line’ that has been created by the society ((Du Bois 5). To further prove that the author rejects European and western influences on his culture, the first chapter introduces the author’s ‘metaphor of the veil’.

Du Bois is of the opinion that all African Americans wear a veil because their perception of the world and its probable social, political and economic chances is very different from that of the whites. This veil, according to the author, is a visual manifestation of race and the color-line ((Du Bois 12). The reason why the author has been working all his life to deal with this problem is because he does not want to blindly accept European and western influences on his culture. The text also uses the veil to show the clear separation and differences between whites and blacks which was very tangible and evident.

Color, according to Du Bois, has been used to cause a dilemma and create rifts between people in the 20th century. In the third and fourth chapters, Du Bois heavily criticizes certain blacks such as Booker T. Washington. Du Bois feels that such blacks were a disgrace to their community because they betrayed them. Du Bois supports the notion that people like Washington encouraged blacks to look at themselves through the eyes of others and measure their souls by the tape of a world that seems amused at the sorry and pitiful state of blacks.

Washington compromised the higher education, civil rights and political powers of the black community by championing the agreement between southern white leaders and black leaders. The agreement urged blacks to simply submit to the whites, and, in return, they would get small favors such as basic education. According to Du Bois, this was simply unfair and unwarranted. He feels that doing this is like accepting that blacks are inferior and whites are superior. It amounts to telling blacks that they should just accept discrimination and unfairness just to get access to their basic rights that they should be entitled to.

The significance of the author rejecting European and western influences on his culture moves to show that no culture is superior to the other. All cultures are unique and