Walker Percy’s essay, “The Loss of the Creature'; describes the experiences that each person goes through as either a genuine experience driven by own desires, or one that is already preconceived by experts. Percy believes that people can only learn from experiences that are driven by pure personal desire, and not experiences already preconceived by experts. Percy describes the “loss of sovereignty'; as preconceived notions of an experience with the help of experts. W.E.B Du Bois, on the other hand, wrote an essay called, “The Souls of Black Folk'; that contradicts Percy’s term of the “loss of sovereignty';. Du Bois strongly believes that with the help of experts, people can then learn what they need to get ahead in life.
Percy presents a type of tourist, which is the “simple tourist';. The “simple tourist'; helps Percy to describe someone who succumbs to the “loss of sovereignty';. In Percy’s view, someone who is a “simple tourist'; goes along with what the expert’s comment on. They stay on the “beaten track';. When he describes the “beaten track'; he means the road that everyone follows put forth by experts. People follow the “beaten track'; knowing what lies ahead of them, and thinking that it is the best way to go. Experts take away the “sovereignty'; of humankind because they take away any surprise or challenge of a learning experience. Du Bois views the “beaten track'; though, as the best way to learn. The educational system that he strongly recommends is a path that he said a person must take in order to succeed in life. That path describes Percy’s view of the “beaten track'; because it is a journey that Du Bois suggests that all young people should take. This definitely leaves out any room for them to wander off into their own interests if they should conform.
The students of Du Bois’s essay characterize one of which fits as a “simple tourist';. Du Bois said,
Nothing new, no time saving devices, -simply old time glorified methods of delving the Truth, and searching the hidden beauties of life, and learning the good of living. The riddle of existence is the college curriculum that was laid before the Pharaohs, that was taught in the groves by Plato, that formed the trivium and quadrivium, and is to-day laid before the freemens’s sons by Atlanta University. And this course will not change...(Du Bois, 235).
Alridge, Derrick P. The Educational Thought of W.E.B. Du Bois: An Intellectual History. New York: Teachers College, 2008. Print.
Du Bois, when talking of the matter of rights, stated, “...Negroes must insist continually, in season and out of season, that voting is necessary to modern manhood, that color discrimination is barbarism, and that black boys need education as well as white boys” (Document E). What Du Bois says here is important, because it deals with three very important topics all at once. He mentions African-Americans needing the right to vote, how discrimination because of color is very wrong, and how black children need education. All in this one sentence has three important view on different subjects beneath the umbrella of African-Americans being treated the same as white people. The way that Du Bois explains this as well is very forceful, which is needed to get his point across during this time. “What must we do then? We must complain. Yes, plain, blunt complain, ceaseless agitation, unfailing exposure of dishonesty and wrong-- this is the ancient, unerring way to liberty, and we must follow it” (Document D). Complaining in that fashion would prove a point to others about DuBois and the people who followed him. By voicing how they feel about this treatment by
Du Bois blatantly told the country that the government played a role in the negative situation of blacks and had an integral role in ensuring that they achieved full citizenship. Du Bois, rightfully so, was extremely critical of the government, citing that “so flagrant became the political scandals that reputable men began to leave politics alone, and politics consequently became disreputable.” From that, comes his key connection to the negative political standing of blacks. He said, “In this state of mind it became easy to wink at the suppression of the Negro vote in the South, and to advise self-respecting Negroes to leave politics entirely alone.” Du Bois wanted blacks to involve themselves in politics and in doing so the struggle for civil rights to change that stigma and more importantly to have a voice. This desire to change the sheer corruption and abuse that came with de jure and de facto segregation was most evident with the “Coming of John.” In this chapter, Du Bois tells the story of two young men, one white, and one black, who both went to college. When the black one returns home after being in school, he no longer shares the ignorant bliss that all of his fellow blacks have. He opens up a school to try and enlighten the youth, but is told to teach them to be lesser than whites. It almost seems as though the story is a
Following the enforcement of emancipation and the passage of the thirteenth amendment in 1864, African Americans found themselves in a contradictory position of both newfound freedom and great discrimination. The newly freed slaves of America faced a society that mere years ago, considered them as nothing greater than property. During this period, two leaders of monumentally opposed schools of thought emerged in the African American community. Booker T. Washington, and William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B) Du Bois. These two thinkers were some of the most influential educators, authors, and orators of the American 19th century, and were also frequent critics of the other's methods and ideas. This was due to a sharp disagreement on the ‘right’ strategy for improving the condition of the black community. While they might not have agreed on the means, both of these remarkable men at least shared that common goal, and their efforts are best demonstrated by looking to the long standing success of institutions they founded and worked ( the Tuskegee institute and Atlanta University respectively). That being said, the diametrically opposed philosophies they supported still stand today, and each 'camp' can be identified in many contemporary debates over discrimination, society, and how to end racial and class injustice.
W.E.B. Du bois on the other hand, believes that the freedom of the slaves is only the
Many of the issues of the color line are a direct derivative of colonialism in the colonies. On one hand through the idea of the problem of the color line DuBois calls our attention to the uncultured imbalances of authority, capital, opportunity and access between whites and African Americans. It also nurtures Du Bois’ right to argue that the oppressed, of necessity, will rise up in confrontation. Certainly, he anticipated wars of emancipation like the riots in Wilmington more aggressive than the imperialist wars of conquest (which in a way is a direct imitation of the time of colonialism).
Sprouted from slavery, the African American culture struggled to ground itself steadily into the American soils over the course of centuries. Imprisoned and transported to the New World, the African slaves suffered various physical afflictions, mental distress and social discrimination from their owners; their descendants confronted comparable predicaments from the society. The disparity in the treatment towards the African slaves forged their role as outliers of society, thus shaping a dual identity within the African American culture. As W. E. B. DuBois eloquently defines in The Souls of Black Folk, “[the African American] simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and
...uls of Black Folk, the readers in the Twentieth-Century America can draw direct parallels to events, stories, and the morays of those in the past to today. The chapter "Of the Coming Of John" helps us interpret the present inequities in educational opportunities. There is also resentment for affirmative action that has been spoken by the dominant white male that reflects the court decision on affirmative action of modern time. The reader can contemplate the passage of Du Bois' essay to substitute the words "colored" and "Negro" with African-America, Nigger, illegal alien, Mexican, inner-city dwellers, and other meanings that articulate people that are not listed as a majority. Du Bois' essay is considered a classic because its' words can easily reflect to the modern day.
...equal: that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (708). Du Bois voice spoke what every African American wished to obtain; which is the right to be free of slavery. On the other hand, Du Bois’s weakness was that his approach came off as aggressive. He felt that blacks should not wait to be told their rights and that it’s something they deserve. He believed that blacks do not have to show that they are/can be useful in the society.
DuBois presents the question “[h]ow does it feel to be a problem?”, introducing the attitude towards African-Americans upon their emancipation (DuBois 3). The idea of freedom for slaves meant equality, but “the freedman has not yet found in freedom his promised land […] the shadow of a deep disappointment rests upon the Negro people” (6). The challenge faced during this time was how to deal with the now freed slaves who once had no rights. DuBois states that African-Americans merely wish “to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly i...
... same thing for blacks, first-class citizenship, but their methods for obtaining it differed. Because of the interest in immediate goals contained in Washington’s economic approach, whites did not realize that he anticipated the complete acceptance and integration of Negroes into American life. He believed blacks, starting with so little, would have to begin at the bottom and work up gradually to achieve positions of power and responsibility before they could demand equal citizenship—even if it meant temporarily assuming a position of inferiority. DuBois understood Washington’s program, but believed that it was not the solution to the “race problem.” Blacks should study the liberal arts, and have the same rights as white citizens. Blacks, DuBois believed, should not have to sacrifice their constitutional rights in order to achieve a status that was already guaranteed.
Du Bois examines the years immediately following the Civil War and, in particular, the Freedmen's Bureau's role in Reconstruction. He feels the Bureau's failures were due not only to Southern opposition and "national neglect," but also to mismanagement and courts that were biased. The Bureau did have successes, and there most important contribution to the progress was the founding of school for African American. Since the end of Reconstruction in 1876, Du Bois claims that the most significant event in African American history has been the coming about of the educator, Booker T. Washington. He then became the spokesman for the ...
W.E.B. Du Bois is considered as one of the most influential figures during the Harlem Renaissance, he spent his whole life fight against discrimination and racism. His book The souls of black folk, is the milestone of African-American literacy. The book took place right after the civil war, which Du Bois believes that as a result of imperialism, slavery started years before the civil war, the civil war was one of the most propounding war but also one the bloodiest war fought, the book talks about numerous reasons and that could justified the war. Furthermore, Du Bois discussed in depth about the role of African American with his own experience, Du Bois stated that there ought to be a balance between academic education and the human culture and social equality, thus, the college will be able to train student who can then not contribute to our society but also race relationships.
During this trip he reflects on the white men that try to make his people civilized. “I am tired. I am weary of trying to keep up this bluff of being civilized. Being civilized means trying to do everything you don't want to, never doing everything you want to. It means dancing to the strings of custom and tradition; it means living in houses and never knowing or caring who is next door. These civilized white men want us to be like them--always dissatisfied--getting a hill and wanting a mountain.” (Whitecloud, 1) The narrator feels pressure from others to become like the rest of them; all of them are educated, civilized, white men that follow tradition. When he feels that this stress has become too large, he alienates himself and travels home. Like Holden, leaving where he was, helped him think about the situation more clearly. “So many things seem to be clear now that I am away from school and do not have to worry about some man's opinion of my ideas.” (Whitecloud, 3) The men that are trying to change him force the narrator to leave. This results in his own alienation because of societal
In the accidental tourist Anne Tyler depicts the views each character has on the world. In the sharpest focus throughout the novel is Macon's view, based on the need for control, the fear of change, distrust of others. In his view the world is worse than alien, it is dangerous. His destabilising childhood experiences, his vocation, the trauma of Ethan's death all conspire to justify his fight from the world. As Sarah put so poignantly, when she confesses to the view that people are basically evil', what makes him intolerable is that he always believed that anyway.