Du Bois feels that African-Americans long for a sense of community. He feels that African-Americans live in a harsh society where they are not valued as equals, and are instead mistreated by those around them. Therefore, African-Americans live behind a mask, and view themselves through the perspectives of whites. Du Bois dives deeper ininto this by using the wordterm "double consciousness. The word, double consciousness, describes" to describe the feeling that you have more than one social identity. The idea of double consciousness is that it makes the raceAfrican-American people view themselves through both perspectives. The perspective, of African and American. This makes it hard for African AmericansAfrican-Americans to blend into society because they want to stay withmaintain their traditions and their culturesculture, but often feel pressure byfrom the society in which they live. This makes it hard for African---AmericansAfrican-Americans to develop themselves because they have to push themselves into the American society while still staying true with their own culture,; this is an example of twoness. Many African-Americans struggle to overcome the state of twoness. Du Bois does statesstate that the African and American sides can exist in harmony with each other without creating a problem. This is hard for African-Americans because at times, this will prevent them from pushing themselves beyond their culturesculture and traditions. Du Bois then concludes that white people in America need to introduce and openedopen themselves up to the culture of the African-American. This would cause the country of America to greatly improve.