WEB DuBois coined the term “Double Consciousness” in his classic work, “The Souls of Black Folk.” But what does this term mean? To be doubly conscious is to see oneself through the eyes of another society and at the same time be true to one's own society. Those with double consciousness can still carry their society's values ​​with them and implement them in a way that helps the society grow. Therefore, they do not fully assimilate. One author who writes about the struggle of having a double consciousness is Sherman Alexie with his short excerpt, "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven." Sherman's main character goes through many ordinary circumstances, however, these are not ordinary for his character, as he is able to understand what American society assumes about his culture. However, Sherman's character contributes nothing to society. This allows the author to modify DuBois's original definition of double consciousness. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In his story, Sherman's character Alexie, a young Native American, experiences what appear to be normal confrontations, but due to his double consciousness, they are disproportionately expelled. For example, Alexie writes about a time when his character was driving through a white neighborhood thinking about his life. A policeman, probably called to the neighborhood, takes him aside and explains: “You're making people nervous. You don't fit the profile of the neighborhood (Alexie).” Sarcastically, the narrator considered telling the officer that he "didn't really fit the profile of the country (Alexie)." Alexie's character shows that he understood what the official was trying to tell him, that he was an outcast. Even the fact that the narrator states that the police officer was called to the scene shows that the narrator understands where he stands in the American social food chain. This further furthers the narrator's double consciousness as paranoia. After a typical three in the morning visit to the local 7-11, the narrator encounters the men in blue again, as he greets them in his car. The part that proves he's paranoid is the fact that he assumes that they "accidentally" waved back. Not just because they were trying to be polite, but because, at least in the narrator's mind, they were profiling him again. These cases show that the narrator is fully aware of what the rest of the population thinks of him, but is also able to imagine what they think of him. Finally, double consciousness actually helps to develop the story better, because if the narrator had not been aware of society's point of view, the careless wave of the police would not have been a big problem for him. The other part of DuBois's definition of double consciousness, that instead of assimilating, one would better society by being themselves, is not really represented in this story, and so the story changed the definition. The main character of Alexie is actually struggling with his identity. His mother even asks him the question, “what are you going to do with the rest of your life? (Alessio).” He replies, “I don't know (Alexie).” He goes on to say that he has a college degree, is intelligent, and was supposed to be this Christ figure for the people of India by becoming someone. For the most part, though, he just “watched television” and “flipped through channels for weeks.” Therefore, he even admits that he does not meet DuBois's definition of contributing to society in a positive way. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get.