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The Perspective of Society on Racial Differences

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The Perspective of Society on Racial Differences

“It is a particular sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.” explains W. E. B. DuBois. DuBois’ essay,
“Of Spiritual Strivings” helps to explain the feelings Gregory Williams suffers through during his childhood and adolescence by trying his hardest to been seen as he is, a smart articulate boy, but being seen as just the stereotypical African American lazy boy.
Gregory Williams, the autobiographor of Life On The Color Line, experiences the life of a white boy in the 1950s, yet was not always able to live that life due to …show more content…

Even from a distance I saw shock register on their faces.” (46). Previously the girls had seen Gregory as their white friend from school, but as soon as they saw him on the other side of town, they knew he wasn’t racially what he appeared to be. From probably been taught by their parents, this friendship would no longer exist. Having friends of another race was just not accepted. At that instant Gregory had experienced double-consciousness. His friends
Molly and Sally saw him instantaneously change, even though neither his appearance nor his personality had changed. He was still the same boy, at least he thought he was. A similar situation arose on the playground while a group of African American boys were playing football and Gregory and his little brother Mike joined in. The football game started to get rough, and Mike was tackled to the ground. Shocked by this, both
Gregory and Mike questioned the reason for the violence. An African American boy gave then a sharp answer, “This is tackle. We get you down any way we can... It ain’t two-handed touch like you crackers play.” (47). Gregory is now put into the position where he is looked at as a white boy, a “cracker”. Now not being seen as an African
American boy as Molly and Sally saw him, he had to try to fit in somewhere. No matter how he was perceived, someone had a problem with it at that point in Gregory’s life. Gregory enters

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