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Helen Korbel
Western Heritage II
Professor Heitman
13 May 2014
On the Classifications of the Human Race
Categorization by physical appearance is a major problem for humans. It is as if the mind
draws prejudice from the eyes, taking in images and immediately ranking other people based on
their appearance. It is something everyone does, whether they mean to or not. Take a moment to
ponder this: every time you walk down the street, how many times have you noticed a stranger,
scanned their appearance, and thought Oh theyre one of those people? Thinking back to high
school, I remember labeling people based on what kind of clothes they wore, automatically
putting them into a certain clique based on the way they dressed. There were the jocks, the preps,
theatre nerds, band geeks, etc. The point is, categorizing has become a major part of our daily
lives. It serves as a basis for how we view and judge others. In DuBois novel, The Souls of
Black Folk, African Americans are constantly running into this problem. The white people only
look at their physical appearance, never considering the person underneath the ebony wrappings.
Why do people categorize? What good do we pretend to get from it? More-over, why does
DuBois never formally approach this problem in his novel? It is always there, and yet no one
seems to mention the fact that humans cannot seem to exist in a world without superficial labels.
Despite his inability to directly state the problem of categorizing, DuBois touches close to
the matter. We often forget that each unit in the mass is a throbbing human soul, (124). DuBois
knew that people judged based on looks, and he continuously tried to show others that the way
one looks makes no difference to who they are. What does make a difference is the way others

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make them feel because of a preconceived idea based on their looks. In chapter thirteen, The
Coming of John, DuBois expertly demonstrates this concept. By having two Johns one white
and another black he is able to show the similarities in the two men. Both went to college and
both returned educated men. The black John returned to become a teacher, showing his students
a new way of thinking. Unlike his thoughtful counterpart, the white John did nothing productive
once he returned. Instead, he moped about his fathers house, missing the city and chasing
innocent girls. Why, then, was the black John criticized by his neighbors after he tried to instigate
a new way of thinking in his black students? DuBois used this point in his novel to demonstrate
how people use appearance to oppress others. The white judge dismissed the black John from the
school on the premise that John was teaching students about the world, showing them how they
could change to improve their lives. If John had been allowed to keep teaching, maybe those
black children would have had a new outlook on life and threatened the lifestyle of the white
people. It is then understood that the human need to categorize others based on looks is an easy
ploy at power and control.
Although the lowly have held uprisings in the past, people have always found a new way
to oppress others. It is the way things are with the human species. To be controlled, manipulated,
and trampled on spiritually and emotionally is a taxing occurrence, and DuBois mentions this in
his novel. DuBois discusses the soul, stating, it loves and hates, it toils and tires, it laughs and
weeps its bitter tears, and looks in vague and awful longing at the grim horizon of its life (124).
This is how souls deal with oppression. In this case it is oppression caused by their
uncontrollable looks. How, then, do people respond to such harsh prejudices? For DuBois, he
responded with passion, trying to prove the whites wrong about him. He attained an education
and sought to educate other people of the lowly class to prove to the whites that although they

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were black, they were just as capable. Although DuBois proved his scholarly worth, he was still
set apart because of his looks. From the beginning, he was placed into the black category and
will forever remain there. For the human mind, it is near impossible to change the way you think,
especially if that one thing is apparently ingrained in your DNA. Has there ever existed a society
in which people were not separated in some way? More often than not, appearance is the root of
oppression, segregation, and unfairness.
With all these predetermined ideas, how can a group of people react with anything other
than despair or hatred? In chapter eleven, Of the Passing of the First-Born, DuBois tries to
comfort himself on the loss of his son by reminding himself that if his child had lived he would
have been repressed because of his appearance. DuBois thinks to himself that his son is Not
deadbut escaped; not bound but free, (180). To consider death an escape rather than an end
shows the extreme and grotesque aftermath of prejudice. In his chapter on religion, DuBois
mentions a similar idea, where the black people of Christian faith look to death as a blessing that
will take them to heaven where all are equal. Why cant all be equal on earth? What gave white
men the right to live well in life and heaven but allowed black people happiness only in the next
world? It derives from past categories, when one person deemed the ancestors of the white
people stronger, better, and superior than the black people. These categories are passed-down,
growing firmer as the years pass. It is then because of this tradition that we now have racism.
People cannot move past the traditional judgments, instead clinging to the old ways because, as
history shows them, the world just works that way. Also, why would the whites, the top dogs
of the world, ever consider relinquishing power? Power is the most addictive drug the world has
to offer. With power comes the desire for more power and once someone has tasted it, they will
do almost anything to keep it. Thus categorizing comes into play. A powerful being is constantly

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on the look-out for threats to their power, and perhaps this is where the immediate need to
classify people comes from. To be able to recognize a threat is a great skill, one that should come
naturally to us as part of our animal instincts. However humans are not animals of instinct. We
repress our natural drives, instead relying on other senses to get us through life. By categorizing
others, we are able to determine who is a threat and who is not, but at the same time we can use
this to note weaknesses in others. This can lead to manipulation, which in turn leads to the
suppression of others. Thus the custom is born.
Throughout his novel, DuBois is inadvertently searching for an answer to the problem of
human categorization. It is human to judge a book by its cover and the need to classify every
living thing into groups by their appearance is clearly demonstrated in our meticulous labeling of
all other species. When it comes to our own race, we are just as picky about classifying
ourselves. Humans divide themselves into categories, needing to distinguish themselves from
others, yet at the same time bringing out their similarities. In DuBois novel there is
discrimination based on race, but if one looks deeper they can see that it is not simply about
black verses white skin tones. Humans seem to have an addiction, a need to place people below
or above themselves, categorizing everything. Why do people have this need? Why cant DuBois
seem to find a simple solution to racial discrimination? The answer is that there is no solution; at
least none that anyone has yet found. Some modern thinkers have started the idea that there is no
difference between anyone and that all people are equal and the same at their core, but because
humans are so addicted to power, not everyone is able to rally to this idea. We might never be
able to live in a world without discrimination; after all, we have spent nearly our entire existence
as a race fighting one another to be the one that is most powerful. Perhaps the need for power is
like strangles, the disease that creates large lumps all over a horses neck. And as the animal

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writhes in its ugly splotches, the throat closes and it is strangled from the unseen problem inside
of it. These categories we use to put others down are like the bumps on the neck, signs that
something is not right. But while we worry about each lump individually, we are missing the
bigger picture underneath. Slowly, we will strangle ourselves into destitution of the soul until we
might as well have no souls at all. After all, one cannot see the soul, so its not important, is it?

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