Souls of Black Folk Questions

Steve Epting
AP English
2.
When Du Bois was a child, he found that the white children thought that he was under them and unimportant. He saw racism for the first time in his life. When Du Bois could excel and beat the white kids in something, that made him the happiest. He was happy when he took test and in races.
Du Bois’s fine contempt proved to be insufficient when he became older. He realizes that all the fascinating opportunities in the world and the things that he desired in the world, he could not have because he was not white. This really put a damper on his dreams because of the realization of what the real world is. During this time, the whites controlled almost everything and they always had the upper hand in society.
He mentions his personal experiences with racism to bring the effect that racism happens everywhere and to everybody. He uses himself as an example to show his personal trials and that it will be hard for him to be successful in his lifetime. These experiences add many descriptive words to really bring out the true handle of what Du Bois was feeling. Many readers would prove this very persuasive because of the high emotion that is flowing throughout the chapter.
4.
The song lyrics at the beginning of each chapter are very significant. They set the scene for what the chapter is going to be talking about. They have deep meaning and they are there to really get the point across of whatever the chapter is talking about. Also they’re there because African American ancestors always used spirituals to uplift, encourage, and inform other African Americans.
These lyrics can be applied to someone’s life when they are going through different circumstances. Someone could recall the words and they could begin to start to follow what the words of the song were saying. These spirituals mostly spoke on getting to freedom or it was about uplifting your fellow man. Many still fall back on these spirituals as a comfort in the time of trouble.
“From birth till death enslaved; in word, in deed, unmanned!” This is a line from the beginning of chapter three. It means that you’re a slave from the time that you’re born, until the time you die; simply, deprived. Without reading the chapter, I would think that it’s going to speak of the true hardships that African Americans had to go through. The lyrics before each chapter give a preview and it causes you to think about what the words are really saying.