not as the smart andarticulate boy he has proven to be in Miss Newmans eyes. He sees himself as anintelligent boy who worked hard at this academics as well as in sports, and clearlydeserved the award. Yet he was looked at by society as an African American boy, andfrom what he had gathered in his own mind, he could never receive such an award becauseof that fact. As if he is just looked over, DuBois made a great argument by stating, Are theyall wrong- all false? No, not that but each alone was oversimple and incomplete- thedreams of a credulous race- childhood, or fond images of the other world which does notknow and does not want to know our power. (Of Spiritual Strivings). Gregory hadexperienced this, others didnt want to know him, they didnt want to see what he hadachieved because if they did, that might make him superior. And at that day and age, thatwould never be accepted. He was seen as a stereotype. Gregory never even had thechance to enter into the minds of the principal to show he had what it takes to be the best. Instead, the faculty judges and principal choose to stay in their simple minded world andover look a smart boy well deserving because of the color of his shin.Along with Gregory experiencing double-consciousness, he also has his racelooked at as a social concept as well. During his first few days at high school, he has todecide where he want to be. Walking into the auditorium, he had to make a decision. During his high school career, did he want to be looked at as an African American, or aswhite? Standing in front of a great divide of white and African American students headmits, I realized that, on the very first day, I had to make a fateful choice... Finally,aware I had no real decision to make, I slowly moved down the aisle to join the blackstudents. (191). Still sitting on the edge, he decided to join the community of studentswho had befriended him in his earlier schooling. Not only did the African A...
