Final Look at the Souls of Black Folk

The final chapters of DuBois’ work center on the question of what he and other characters believe constitutes “the real world” in the years after emancipation. DuBois uses the story of the birth of his child to discuss the urge to protect life “behind the veil” and still pretend that life as a black man could be separate but equal in order to better enjoy life. The death of his son brings him crashing back to the reality that life can’t remain behind the veil. His knowledge that the humanity and emotion experienced at his son’s funeral were sacred experiences that any man ought to consider holy clashes bitterly with the idea that whites witnessing the procession must think little of him and his companions dressed up in their church finery. 

I was continuously interested in Du Bois’ use of symbolism, which  revolves around vision. The ‘‘veil’’ is his main metaphor for the distance and misconception between black and white Americans, and is responsible for the way African Americans see themselves as dualistic and distorted. Darkness generally symbolizes ignorance and despair, such as in the opening to ‘‘The Sorrow Songs’’; enslaved black people in the past are termed ‘‘they that walked in darkness.’’ Similar use of imagery seemed to concern impaired vision including haze, dimness, dusk, shadow, and mist. 

Du Bois first mentions the ‘‘veil” in his forethought and extends the metaphor throughout the text. The ‘‘veil” is a metaphoric film between black people and white America that obscures the true identity of black people. Du Bois attributes the confused dual identity of his people to the ‘‘veil,” which makes it impossible for blacks to see themselves in entirety as well. Du Bois extrapolates on his metaphor with extensive use of visual imagery, or the impairment thereof. Darkness, light, brightness, shadow, and haze appear throughout the text. In effect, according to Du Bois, difficulty in perception is fundamental to being African American.