Katie Riera's Paper

Katie's paper synthesizes W.E.B. Du Bois' concept of double-consciousness in African-Americans with many of the literary dualities, most significantly the subjection the author faces indoors and outdoors, present in Harriet Wilson's Our Nig.  Katie sets forth a system of parallel dualities; the persecution Wilson endures indoors represents slavery, whereas her life outdoors represents the promise of freedom in America.  She first deals with relating the virtual enslavement Wilson is subjected to indoors to slavery at large, in the process commenting on dualities present in the text:  the split-level house, the split along family lines in terms of how to treat Wilson, the white house (and what that represents) and its sole black inhabitant.  She then discusses the ways in which Wilson's life outdoors parallels American freedom, including the way she has a very human relationship with her dog Fido and the general lack of punishment outdoors.  Katie also includes a discussion of how Wilson presents an exceptional case that transcends Du Bois' double-consciousness, because Wilson is not only African-American but also a woman, and thus faces all the additional discrimination that entails.

I felt the paper could be expanded by incorporating Du Bois's "double-consciousness" into the central argument to a greater degree.  At present, though Katie makes numerous compelling observations and arguments about the dualities present within the novel, she discusses Du Bois mainly in order to show how Wilson furthers the concept; I felt that incorporating the "double-consciousness" idea directly into the text's dualities reveals an important perspective that Katie has not yet explored.