The term double-consciousness was first explored by W.E.B Du Bois in his novel, The Souls of Black Folk. He says that double-consciousness–the awareness of being both American and not–denied African Americans “a world which yields him no true self-consciousness” (Du Bois, 1). Instead, they’re characterized by a “twoness–an American, a Negro…two warring ideals in one dark body” (Du Bois, 2). Du Bois understood that the concept of double-consciousness was enabled by the power of white stereotypes and the racism that excluded blacks from society. For Du Bois, the concept of double-consciousness is signified by two things. The first is being “shut out from their world by a vast veil” (Du Bois, 1), which is defined as the limitation of being seen unclearly. The second signifier is “second-sight” (Du Bois, 1), the duality of African American identity and vision. Du Bois says that African Americans are subjected to seeing themselves through the eyes of others and unable to reconcile their two ‘selves.’ Since Du Bois’ published novel in 1903, the term double-consciousness has become a key theme in many African-American works as describing the quintessential black experience. This can also be seen in Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, where he uses the theme of invisibility and a self-imposed identity to explore double-consciousness.
Initially, Invisible Man struggles to reconcile his Black identity with his American identity, and in the first section of the novel, Invisible Man suffers from a lack of double-consciousness and sees himself through the eyes of others. Take the scene with Invisible Man, Norton, (a founder), and Trueblood (a black man who impregnates his daughter) for instance. Invisible Man identifies himself with the white man in his back seat instead of the black man, “I identified myself with the rich man reminiscing on the rear seat” (Ellison, 39). He continues by adding,
We were embarrassed by the earthy harmonies they sang, but since the visitors were awed we dared not laugh at the crude, high, plaintively animal sounds Jim Trueblood made as he led the quartet. (Ellison, 47)
The narrator denies his identification with Trueblood, and therefore his blackness. His denial increases when Trueblood tells his incestuous tale to Norton. Invisible Man is ashamed and disgusted by Trueblood because he sees Trueblood through Norton’s eyes. The narrator’s limited double-consciousness prevents him from being able to identify with his African American heritage. Unlike Du Bois’ model, Invisible Man is not gifted with “second-sight” from birth and must acquire this through small revelations of his identity throughout the novel. The notion of the “veil” is also conveyed through the narrator’s refusal to see Trueblood. This makes both the narrator and Trueblood invisible, as people refuse to see them.
Another demonstration of double-consciousness in Invisible Man is the scene with Clifton (a member of a group called the Brotherhood) and the Sambo dolls. The narrator is confused about what’s going on and asks, “Why should a man deliberately plunge outside of history and peddle an obscenity…Why should he choose to disarm himself, give up his voice and leave the only organization offering him a chance to ‘define’ himself?” (Ellison, 438). Invisible Man is unaware that Clifton does this to undermine the white stereotype over the identity of African Americans. He is not, as the narrator believes, selling an imitation of African Americans created by white men. By pulling the strings of the black Sambo doll, or controlling it, Clifton is seizing the entitlement white people think they have in this black caricature. Clifton rebels against the white power that seeks to control black representation; this is why Clifton is arrested. There is something bewildering about a black street vendor pulling the strings of his own Sambo doll. When the narrator later examines the doll, he not only finds that it had two faces, but that “Clifton had been making it dance all the time and the black thread had been invisible”