Negro’s “Double Consciousness” in To Kill a Mockingbird

Abstract

Living among the Whites has caused many problems for the Blacks throughout the history. African Americans, who are African in their roots and American in their life, as opposite races, are segregated from the White’s societies due to their colored skin. They are considered as uncivilized and lowbrow people who do not have equal rights to the Whites. Thus, racial segregation acting like a veil, as Du Bois refers to, brings African Americans a dual identity which leads to their double consciousness. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, written in 1960, further to its depiction of racial prejudice and discrimination issues of American society in 1930’s, pictures the life of a minor character named Calpurnia as a black woman who lives with a white family and has the role of a mother for the white children. Therefore, living among the Whites and the Blacks at the same time leads her to a double consciousness, which is the result of segregation. Thus, using W. E. B. Du Bois’ concepts of “veil” and “double consciousness”, in this study it has been tried to investigate the inner as well as the outer truth of African Americans’ life and their merged identity under the impact of racism.