The Theme of the Veil in W.E.B. Du Bois Souls of Black Folk :: Souls of Black Folk Themes

For now we see through a glass, darkly--Isiah 257W.E.B. Du Boiss Souls of Black kinsfolk, a collection of autobiographicaland historical essays contains many subject areas. There is the theme of souls andtheir attainment of consciousness, the theme of double consciousness and theduality and bifurcation of black life and culture but one of the most strikingthemes is that of the veil. The veil provides a link between the 14 seeminglyunconnected essays that make up The Souls of Black Folk. Mentioned at least oncein most of the 14 essays it means that, the Negro is a sort of seventh son,born with a veil, and gifted with second sight in this American valet de chambre, -a worldwith yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himselfthrough the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, thisdouble consciousness, this sense of always looking at ones self through theeyes of others.Footnote1 The veil is a metaphor for the separation andinvisibility of black life and existence in America and is a reoccurring themein books abo ut black life in America.Du Boiss veil metaphor, In those somber forests of his striving hisown soul rose before him, and he saw himself, -darkly as though through aveilFootnote2, is a allusion to holy person Pauls line in Isiah 257, For now wesee through a glass, darkly.Footnote3 Saint Pauls use of the veil in Isiah andlater in Second Corinthians is similar to Du Boiss use of the metaphor of theveil. Both writers claim that as long as one is wrapped in the veil theirattempts to gain self-consciousness will fail because they will always see theimage of themselves reflect back to them by others. Du Bois applies this byclaiming that as long as on is behind the veil the, world which yields him noself-consciousness but who only lets him see himself through the revelation ofthe other world.Footnote4 Saint Paul in Second Corinthians says the way to selfconsciousness and an understanding lies in, the veil being taken aw ay, Now thelord is the tone and where the spirit of the lord is there is liberty. DuBois does not claim that transcending the veil will lead to a betterunderstanding of the lord but like Saint Paul he finds that only throughtranscending the veil can people achieve liberty and gain self-consciousness.The veil metaphor in Souls of Black Folk is symbolic of theinvisibility of blacks in America. Du Bois says that Blacks in America are aforgotten people, after the Egyptian and Indian, the Greek and Roman, the