Summary Of Virginia Woolf s Mrs. Quot. B. Dubois

Virginia Woolf and W.E.B. Dubois’ writings are both capable of illuminating the issues in their respective social systems. While Woolf challenges the aristocracy and a woman’s place, Dubois focuses on the challenges met by the African American community. Virginia Woolf’s character in her novel Mrs. Dalloway, Lucrezia Smith, endures being a foreigner in a recovering war-torn London and also the wife of a former soldier battling the demons that battle as left him. In his essay, Of Our Spiritual Strivings, Dubois describes the African American community as being both American and Black and the standards that each identity requires. Dubois’ description of â€Å"double-consciousness† does not apply to Lucrezia Smith because while she experiences self-consciousness and duality she lacks the gift of second sight meant to accompany them. Dubois’ describes the African American experience as a â€Å"double-consciousness.† He theorizes that the world â€Å"yields him no true self-consciousness;† however he goes on to describe the experience of having a dual consciousness as a â€Å"sense of always looking at oneself through the eyes of others† (Dubois, 38). Self-consciousness is defined as being hyperaware and concerned with the opinions of others in relation to oneself, therefore Dubois has contradicted himself. The aspect of examining oneself through the eyes of others shall hereafter be referred to as â€Å"self-consciousness† for the sake of clarity between the theory of double-consciousness and the