The best way to describe Du Bois’ work would to call him an equal rights activist. He wrote his stories to appeal to the humanity of people, during a time when a lot of Americans had lost sight of what was right and wrong. There were riots, violence, and so much hate in the U.S. Du Bois took to writing short stories and poetry as his outlet for outrage over the supposed “separate but equal” movement. Throughout this paper the themes, characteristics, and ideals of the Du Bois and three of his short stories will be highlighted. The three stories being compared are: “Comet”, “On Being Crazy”, and . To begin with, the characteristics of Du Bois’ work are that of a man who wants racial equality. Within the story “On Being Crazy”, there is a seemingly nice gentleman who goes about town trying to do normal everyday things, and every where he goes he is “not wanted”, scorned at, and even asked to leave.
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I walked into a restaurant, seated myself, and reached for the bill of fare. My table companion rose.
"Sir," said he, "do you wish to force your company on those who do not want you?"
No, said I, I wish to eat. "
Are you aware, sir, that this is social equality?"
Nothing of the sort, sir, it is hunger, and I ate.”
Du Bois makes an ironic point that the man is only asking to eat, he is not doing anything wrong by sitting down, other than being socially unacceptable. The end of the story comes a man walking along the railroad, and the black man joins him…
"But you're a nigger." Yes, I'm certainly what you mean by that.
"Well then!" he returned, with that curiously inconsequential not of triumph. "Moreover," he said, "I do not want my sister to marry a nigger."
I had not even seen his sister, so I merely murmured, let her say no.
"By God, you shan't marry her, even if she said
I walked into a restaurant, seated myself, and reached for the bill of fare. My table companion rose.
"Sir," said he, "do you wish to force your company on those who do not want you?"
No, said I, I wish to eat. "
Are you aware, sir, that this is social equality?"
Nothing of the sort, sir, it is hunger, and I ate.”
Du Bois makes an ironic point that the man is only asking to eat, he is not doing anything wrong by sitting down, other than being socially unacceptable. The end of the story comes a man walking along the railroad, and the black man joins him…
"But you're a nigger." Yes, I'm certainly what you mean by that.
"Well then!" he returned, with that curiously inconsequential not of triumph. "Moreover," he said, "I do not want my sister to marry a nigger."
I had not even seen his sister, so I merely murmured, let her say no.
"By God, you shan't marry her, even if she said