sent a resemble critique of society? Third, how can the veil both make blacks invisible and separate them at the same time and make the separations so apparent to society. Fourth, how can Du Bois say blacks are gifted with "second sight" when Du Bois says blacks are looking at their past and present through a veil? And Fifth, Du Bois's prescription for lifting the veil, education and political activism, are only small steps to lifting the stifling iron veil that keeps blacks invisible and separated from white America. Du Bois's metaphor has limitations and internal contradictions; but these internal contradictions are minor compared to the power that "the veil" has as a symbol of black existence in America.The veil in The Souls Of Black Folk is a metaphor that suggests the invisibility of black America, the separation between whites and blacks, and the obstacles that blacks face in gaining self-consciousness in a racist society. The veil is also a metaphor that reoccurs in other novels about black strivings. The veil is not a two dimensional cloth to Du Bois but instead it is a three dimensional prison that prevent blacks from seeing themselves as they are but instead makes them see the negative stereotypes that whites have of them. The veil is also to Du Bois both a blind fold and a noose on the existence of "ten thousand thousand" Americans who live and strive invisible and separated from their white brothers and sisters. Du Bois wrote The Souls Of Black Folk to lift the veil and show the pain and sorrow of a striving people. Like Saint Paul's letter to the Corinthians Du Bois's "letter" to the American people urges people not to live behind the veil but to live above it. ...
