Ch.1 Souls of Black Folk (and Mike Mullen) Lit Response

African Americans were free in Du Bois’ time, but they were far from freedom. They had little chance to grow within their country and become better people. Negroes remained in this post-slavery slump for nearly another century, trying to find ways to be accepted, and almost giving up completely. The transition between being property and people proved to be a difficult maneuver for whites and blacks to truly accept.
Du Bois explained with great detail how free Blacks often continued to work at their former slave owner’s plantation. Oftentimes, this is where they could do their best. While on the plantation, they were fed and guaranteed a home, but they could leave whenever they wanted. If a slave were to look for a job elsewhere however, he would be discriminated against and left struggling for life. The pathos behind this fact is magnified by Du Bois’ story of his own youth. While growing up, he realized that he was different from the other children, but only by color. Because of this he resolved to work harder and do better to earn what they naturally received. His plans never worked in his youth. The audience must feel pity and sorry for a young Du Bois who, as a child, had to deal with such discrimination. The tone of this story grows increasingly sad, as Du Bois realizes there is nothing he can do to completely bridge the racial gap.
The pathos used throughout was enough to make someone feel sorry for the race in whatever they did. Negroes strived to be come successful in voting, school and farming. But never at the same time. After repeated discrimination, they eventually decided to give up. But on the brink of defeat, Du Bois makes a statement. He realizes that Blacks should involve themselves in work, culture, and liberty at all times. And not only for the betterment of the negro race, but the betterment of the country as a whole. He resolved that both of the races needed to give and take from each other. By shifting this emotion into action, Du Bois could easily make an audience want to react in a good way.
The tone throughout carried the emotion beautifully, to the point where the audience felt the same way the negroes did in the story. A dark tone was revealed in several areas, and I too felt very bad. When Du Bois wrote on defeat, I too felt defeated. Even still, when Du Bois wrote on movement and change, I felt a feeling to help. I feel that he easily captured the audience, and could have captured them in any subject with his level of tone. Tone and pathos establishes how involved the reader becomes in the writing. If a poor job is done, the reader will get nothing from the story. But if someone does an excellent job giving a story tone and pathos, then that story will easily affect future generations, and inspire them to be their best. Du Bois realized this and took the time to focus not only the topic and what was needed to fix it, but also the mechanics behind the writing. We all know the struggles that blacks had to go through post-slavery, but Du Bois tells it in a new, refreshing way. Overall, his work is more than enough to capture the audience, keep them, and help them understand the point he is trying to make.