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Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
Chapter 1: Of Our Spiritual Strivings
Explanation and Analysis—Heredity and Race:
W.E.B. Du Bois joined with prominent political thinkers, activists, and intellectuals of his time in being one of the many individuals (across the political spectrum) to incorporate eugenic ideas into their work. Eugenic conceptions of heredity and race emerge as a motif in The Souls of Black Folk, as emblematized in the following passage from Chapter 1:
The red stain of bastardy, which two centuries of systematic legal defilement of Negro women had stamped upon his race, meant not only the loss of ancient African chastity, but also the hereditary weight of a mass of corruption from white adulterers, threatening almost the obliteration of the Negro home.
Interestingly, this passage turns the traditional direction of eugenic rhetoric on its head. It was typical for eugenic scientists and social hygienists at the time to claim that Black people—or any "race" considered "inferior"—should not breed with white people, at the risk of corrupting white heredity. Du Bois switches the direction of this, claiming that white people have defiled and corrupted the Black population, leaving behind the "red stain of bastardy." While Du Bois's intentions here are noble, it is impossible to repurpose eugenic frameworks without perpetuating eugenic ideals; and, unfortunately, Du Bois does just that.
Related Themes:
Chapter 2: Of the Dawn of Freedom
Explanation and Analysis—Hordes:
Even as he argues in (what he considers to be) the best interests of his fellow Black Americans, Du Bois often falls into the trap of generalization, assigning characteristics to large populations or groups of people without a second thought. This evolves into a motif over the course of the text, with Du Bois often using the term "horde"—or other unsavory terms for describing large populations—to refer to enslaved or formerly enslaved Black Americans. At the beginning of Chapter 2, Du Bois uses this terminology to describe Black people who fled the South during the war:
They came at night . . . . a horde of starving vagabonds, homeless, helpless, and pitiable, in their dark distress.
Again, in Chapter 2, Du Bois describes the formerly enslaved people following in the wake of Sherman's army in the South:
In vain were they ordered back, in vain were bridges hewn from beneath their feet; on they trudged and writhed and surged, until they rolled into Savannah, a starved and naked horde of tens of thousands.
Notably, in both the above instances of this motif, Du Bois's language is dehumanizing. Like many of his intellectual contemporaries, Du Bois found himself steeped in the rhetoric and vocabulary of the eugenics movement, which often circulated generalizing, dehumanizing statements about those below the poverty line.
Related Themes:
Chapter 5: Of the Wings of Atlanta
Explanation and Analysis—Serfdom:
Throughout the book, Du Bois draws deliberate parallels between Black Americans and serfs. In medieval Europe, serfs were typically peasant farmers who rented land from their noble overlords for the purposes of living and producing food. The lords presiding over the land extorted those living there, demanding crops and payment, often leaving their serfs penniless or hungry.
At the time of Du Bois's writing The Souls of Black Folk, many Black Americans living in rural areas remained enslaved in all but name to a similar system, known as sharecropping. Despite the abolition of slavery in America, the Black Americans of Du Bois's time were not truly free, farming on rented land and spending their lives in debt to predatory white landowners. In Chapter 5, Du Bois bemoans the fact that the only solution offered to the problem of American serfdom has been wealth:
For every social ill the panacea of Wealth has been urged, —wealth to overthrow the remains of the slave feudalism; wealth to raise the "cracker" Third Estate; wealth to employ the Black serfs, and the prospect of wealth to keep them working; wealth as the end and aim of politics.
Establishing serfdom as a motif throughout the text helps throw into greater relief the new economic servitude many formerly enslaved people found themselves in.
Related Themes:
