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W. E. B. Dubois 'Of Our Spiritual Strivings'

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In the eleventh paragraph of “Of Our Spiritual Strivings,” W. E. B. Du Bois’s stylistic and content choices contribute to the persuasiveness of the idea that prejudice is negative and harmful through the use of such rhetorical devices as word choice, alliteration, rhetorical questions, personification, an appeal to pathos, and allusion. In the first sentence of the paragraph, Du Bois writes that prejudice inevitably brings the “self-questioning, self-disparagement, and lowering of ideals which ever accompan[ies] repression and breed[s] in an atmosphere of contempt and hate.” In using the word “breed” to describe the effects of prejudice, Du Bois makes the reader think of the mindless propagation of a virus or bacteria. This, therefore, helps …show more content…

He first asks, from the African Americans’ perspective, “what need of education, since we must always cook and serve?” followed by, from the white’s perspective, “what need of higher culture for half-men?” The effect of this rhetorical questioning is that the reader sees the effect that prejudice has on African Americans—they lose hope and are degraded by …show more content…

The personification of “the Nation” gives more character to the idea of prejudice, removing the idea of an unknowable entity. Rather, it becomes something that the reader can comprehend and even relate to. Lastly, Du Bois makes an appeal to pathos when he says, “[a]way with the black man’s ballot, by force or fraud,—and behold the suicide of a race!” Suicide is obviously a strong word choice, and in using it, Du Bois makes the readers morbidly connect with the African Americans’ plight at an emotional level. It serves to help the reader understand the impact that prejudice has on African Americans and in doing so again increases the persuasiveness of Du Bois’s argument. In conclusion, Du Bois’s stylistic and content choices, which include word choice, allusion, alliteration, rhetorical questions, personification, and an appeal to pathos, serve to make the main idea in paragraph eleven—that the effects of prejudice are negative and harmful—more

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Du Bois uses many different ways to target the reader. His main purpose in “Of Our Spiritual Strivings”, is to educate mistreated Africans American about demanding equality and rights that were promised to them around the time of the Emancipation Proclamation. Du Bois uses different types of literary devices (mostly personifications) and firsthand accounts stories about injustice to make his point to the reader. For example, Du Bois states, “Will America be poorer if she replaces her brutal dyspeptic blundering with light-hearted but determined Negro humility?” (Du Bois 297).

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In the analysis of the abundance of wonderful leaders who made a difference in the African American community since emancipation, W.E.B Du Bois made a special impact to advance the world. From founding the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, to his influential book The Souls of Black Folk, he always found an accurate yet abstract way of verbalizing the strives of African Americans as well as making platforms for them to be known. Although he had less power than most of the bigger named African American leaders of his time, W.E.B Dubois’ overweighing strengths verses weaknesses, accurate and creative analogies, leadership style, and the successful foundations he stood for demonstrates his ability to be both realistic and accurate in his assessment since emancipation. Though Du Bois did have a beneficial impact

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Dr. W.E.B Du Bois uses this essay to sway the audience of the insufficiency of the statements that Mr. Booker T. Washington has made about African Americans being submissive of rights and the creation of wealth. Mr. Washington believes that the black race should give up and give into what the society norms were at that time sequentially just to have a certain right. Dr. Du Bois refused to believe that the black race should give up one right to get another right. Especially, when the white South had all rights without expecting to give up anything to have those rights.

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