Vulnerability In W. E. B. Du Bois The Great Migration

When we speak about vulnerability we usually only think the negative connotation of weakness and that feeling of being “Naked and Afraid”. But, when we expose ourselves to the problem,make/find ourselves vulnerable, we remind ourselves of all the possibilities to overcome those problems and often make the changes needed to let those possibilities come to fruition. It is in W.E.B.Du Bois’ book The Souls of Black Folk where one can see how vulnerability played into Du Bois’ life and how it does not stop him but instead empower him, we can also see how it sparks the change of people in Jacob Lawrence’s paintings of The Great Migration and it effects on Sonny in the Sonny's Blues. In all three examples, people are influenced by their feeling

of vulnerability to make change and by harnessing they give themselves the power over the world they before felt rather powerless in.
Du Bois explains in his book that we begin life behind a ‘veil’ and though he calls it this it can also be deemed as that young, innocence we have as a child. And it isn’t until that ‘veil’ is removed or that innocence is lost that we can see the world clearly. This new clarity may not be everything hoped people it was. Du Bois explains the world after his ‘veil’ fell as not being as he remembered it before and it began to dull. Du Bois states, “The sky was the bluest when I could beat my mates…..Alas, with the years all this fine contempt began to fade…”(W.E.B. Du Bois,2). The world becoming different leaves Du Bois vulnerable and the feeling of double consciousness begins to build within him but this does not stop him from interacting with the world. No. Instead this feeling fuels him to take charge and change and go against the system that he sees will always attempt to repress him and made him feel vulnerable in the first place. He shows this new mentality by writing, “...all their dazzling opportunities,were theirs, not mine. But they should not keep these prizes, I said;some, all, I would wrest from them.” (Ibid, 2). He suggests this feeling made him feel less than others but spurred this will in him to fight back, to ‘wrest’ as he said opportunities the system and its people who try to keep away from him. If Du Bois had never had that ‘veil’ drop and had his sudden moment of vulnerability he would not have seen the world clearly. If he never had that clarity he may have never known that fighting back would give him more opportunities in life and more power over the system than before.
We can use Dubois’ state of vulnerability to explain Sonny's similar feelings and actions in Sonny's Blues.

Unlike his father, Sonny was able to harness the vulnerability he felt living in Harlem into an artwork that gave him the power to build an empire. Sonny’s vulnerability can be seen in the first pages where the narrator explains Sonny being sent to jail and rehab for addiction but also exposes the vulnerability in drug users in Harlem. The narrator muses that to get that low comes with a vulnerability being. Sonny describes this state as being “ in a deep, real deep and funky hole and just saw the sun up there,outside. I got to get outside.”(Baldwin ,109). It is here Sonny describes his vulnerability as being stuck but he also sees the light and knows he had to work to get out of his situation. This knowledge gives him the power of change and it’s with this change that gives him music. Through music Sonny builds his way out. The narrator calls the bar he plays at, “...Sonny’s world. Or rather, his kingdom.” (Ibid, 136). This not kingdom Sonny inherited it was one he built to escape the horrors and hungry world outside. It was his power to create space where that feeling could never penetrate and because of so he could seek change in his life from drugs and not being heard. Sonny brought his brother, the narrator, to his kingdom, the one he had power over and the narrator hears and feels every note played. It is that power in Sonny and his will to change his stangs

in life that could have only grown in the vulnerability of being in a world where others attempt to manipulate you to fit their ideas.
Finally,looking to Lawrence it can be seen how the vulnerability of masses of people bring people hope and power. Looking at this,

set of pictures from Lawrence’s The Great Migrations(10,49,44) we can see the difference in people’s lives that were brought about because they harnessed the power they have over themselves to change, to move.

In slide ten the people with their heads downward and the pan in the corner not at the table possibly suggesting the food on their plates was all they were to get with the caption that they were poor shows a vulnerability in being that many people were forced to face because the South was not made for them. This beaten down picture of vulnerability of people is in tangent to those of people who changed their situation and moved North. Compared to slide 49 and 44 where the food is beautiful and of a large quantity and the idea of eating “out” is even a possibility for the people. The South was a place where African Americans were vulnerable to harassment,racism and death but because their view of a world was clear they moved to where they hoped they could

strive.

It can also be seen in slide 3 of The Great Migration along with its caption that there was not a lot work in the South and people were moving North to avoid the vulnerability that comes with being unemployed. And though it was sparse to gain a ranking job, the vulnerability lead them to jobs they had never otherwise been able to. Like in slide 34, were African American Press was job held by some that encouraged people to change. Blacks in Press gave the people the power of voice and this voice encouraged others to find the power in themselves to make the move. The Great Migration shows the power of people to make change in the situations that they are currently living in for the better. And although it is not always perfect(slums of the North),

and you might not get all the power(segregation and oppression),

in Lawrence we can see people who are vulnerable to the world around them (whether that be Mother Earth or will the system) but instead of staying vulnerable they decided to have the power over their being to make change. And because they harnessed their own power were they able to better the lives themselves and their children.
The feeling of being vulnerable is one as a collective we try to avoid And because we try to avoid it or to leave this feeling we empower ourselves to change whatever it is that makes us feel this way. To change we have to have seen the problem clearly and from their may we plan our attack. Du Bois opens his eyes because his vulnerability leaves him to see the world differently and so he plans to react differently, Sonny uses his vulnerability to make art that gives him the power to change his life for ultimately the better, Lawrence shows how vulnerability and people as a collective who feel vulnerable will do what it takes in the hope of getting to a place that also ends up being better for them Vulnerability is not something we should be scared of but instead something we should allow ourselves to harness and help us see the world with so that we too can change our lives for the better. Because once we’ve done that for ourselves we can help others do the same and hopefully fix the system to be in all of our favors.