Du Bois' Argument in the Essay

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It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. (pp. 8-9)

Evocative here is the constraint of prejudice that denigrates the target into a victim and that exacerbates the surface malice of prejudice by humiliating the victim and having the potential to make him actualize his or her labeling. In a spiral of self-prophecy, the target of prejudice frequently actualizes perceptions of the offender and indeed Du Bois goes on to observe that: "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" (p.9)

The last words -- "better and truer self" -- are echoes of the epochal theme that Du Bois has sounded on liberally and inspirationally in his book: the issue of hope. Prejudice has the paradoxical gift of bestowing the Negro with resilience, endurance, and the ability to fight": "alienation," comments Holt " raised to a conscious level, cultivated and directed -- has revolutionary potential" (p.306) enabling the Negro to become a "better and truer self" and to participate, as Du Bois writes, as a "co-worker in the kingdom of culture" (p.9).

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'Race' and 'prejudice' are oppressive; at the end of the day, Du Bois sees hope emerge as a result.

Conclusion

Du Bois' work, The Souls of Black Folk remains an enduring classic not only due to his admirable style of writing but also due to his addressing of matters that remain forever potent and significant as well as current and to his ability to address them in a meaningful and memorable manner. Most improatnly, Du Bnois refuses to allow us to languish in the doldrums of injustice of race and prejudice. He see hope emerge as a result and as an unquestionable necessity of the previous two elements.

Transversing from ambiguity of race and nationality to irrationality and destructiveness of race and culminating in his piece de supreme of hope, Du Bois tells us that "the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line" (p.23), a problem that is global ( p.40), but he foresees that "universities will be developed in the South to generate "broad ideals and true culture" and to liberate the "soul from sordid aims and petty passions" (p.60). Du Bois' vilification of prejudice and cry for hope continues to remain the call of all living people. The Twenty first century must put his argument into practice......

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