How does twoness develop the idea of double consciousness in The Souls of Black Folk?
As Du Bois explains, for Black Americans, there is always a strong and pervasive sense of "twoness" which derives from the fact that the Black people in America are not native to the country and indeed were brought there by the white settlers who themselves arrived as foreigners but then...
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claimed the nation for their own. This "twoness" is a sense of being both Black and American at the same time. Black Americansare both things, but there is always a sense of competition and dispute between the two elements, as if they do not sit easily together.
This idea continues the previously-explored suggestion that Black people in general feel a "double-consciousness" when interacting with the world. They see themselves not only through their own eyes, but through the eyes of others. A Black person must always be conscious of how a white person might be seeing them; how they must be presenting themselves; and whether a white person would judge them as worthy or educated.
When a Black person is thinking of themselves as a Black American, then, it creates a mental difficulty, because the double-consciousness makes the Black person aware of how white Americans would think of them. They know that they are both Black and Americans, but double consciousness forces them to recognize that some Americans would not see Black Americans as Americans, preferring to see them only as Black instead.
What is "double-consciousness" in The Souls of Black Folk and when might one experience it?
“Double-consciousness,” as described by W. E. B. Du Bois, is when a Black person looks at themselves from a white American’s point of view.
In the first essay in The Souls of Black Folk, “Of Our Spiritual Strivings,” Du Bois explains what he means by “double-consciousness.” According to Du Bois, a country as structurally racist as the United States “yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelations of the other world.” The “him” is a Black person, and “the other world” is the United States and its racist laws and policies.
The United States creates a brutal and patronizing environment for Black people, so to try and survive, Black people develop a “sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others.” They adopt the standards and perceptions of bigoted America due to their dominance and severity. This is why Du Bois talks about “measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.” For Du Bois, a Black person in America “feels his twoness.” They are a Black person and American and must constantly deal with these “two warring ideals in one dark body.”
In “Of Our Spiritual Strivings,” Du Bois provides a few instances in which one may experience double-consciousness. Consider how he portrays doctors, preachers, and artists as all subject to the idea of double-consciousness. Additionally, think about how the concept can impact Black people in everyday life, whether they’re at work, at school, at a restaurant, or simply on a walk.