The Souls of Black Folk — Page 12
For the first time he sought to analyze the burden he bore upon his back, that dead-weight of social degradation partially masked behind a half-named Negro problem.
Por primera vez intentó analizar la carga que llevaba sobre sus espaldas, ese peso muerto de degradación social parcialmente enmascarado detrás de un problema negro apenas nombrado.
He felt his poverty; without a cent, without a home, without land, tools, or savings, he had entered into competition with rich, landed, skilled neighbors.
Sintió su pobreza; sin un centavo, sin hogar, sin tierra, herramientas ni ahorros, había entrado en competencia con vecinos ricos, terratenientes y hábiles.
To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships.
Ser un hombre pobre es difícil, pero ser una raza pobre en una tierra de dólares es el fondo mismo de las penurias.
He felt the weight of his ignorance,—not simply of letters, but of life, of business, of the humanities; the accumulated sloth and shirking and awkwardness of decades and centuries shackled his hands and feet.
Sintió el peso de su ignorancia, no solo de las letras, sino de la vida, de los negocios, de las humanidades; la pereza acumulada, la evasión y la torpeza de décadas y siglos encadenaban sus manos y sus pies.
Nor was his burden all poverty and ignorance.
Ni tampoco su carga era solo pobreza e ignorancia.
The red stain of bastardy, which two centuries of systematic legal defilement of Negro women had stamped upon his race, meant not only the loss of ancient African chastity, but also the hereditary weight of a mass of corruption from white adulterers, threatening almost the obliteration of the Negro home.
La mancha roja de la bastardía, que dos siglos de profanación legal sistemática de las mujeres negras habían impreso sobre su raza, significaba no solo la pérdida de la antigua castidad africana, sino también el peso hereditario de una masa de corrupción proveniente de adúlteros blancos, que amenazaba casi con la obliteración del hogar negro.
A people thus handicapped ought not to be asked to race with the world, but rather allowed to give all its time and thought to its own social problems.
A un pueblo así perjudicado no se le debería pedir que compita con el mundo, sino más bien permitirle dedicar todo su tiempo y pensamiento a sus propios problemas sociales.
But alas! while sociologists gleefully count his bastards and his prostitutes, the very soul of the toiling, sweating black man is darkened by the shadow of a vast despair.
Pero ¡ay! mientras los sociólogos cuentan alegremente sus bastardos y sus prostitutas, el alma misma del hombre negro que trabaja y suda se oscurece bajo la sombra de una vasta desesperación.
Vocabulary
- Por
- For; by; through; indicates cause or reason.
- primera
- First; feminine form of primero.
- vez
- Time; occasion; instance of something occurring.
- intentó
- Attempted; tried to do something.
- analizar
- To analyze; to examine something carefully.
- la
- The; feminine singular definite article.
- carga
- Load; burden; weight carried or responsibility.
- que
- That; which; relative pronoun introducing clause.
- llevaba
- Carried; wore; bore; past tense of llevar.
- sobre
- On; upon; above; concerning; envelope.
- sus
- His; her; its; their; possessive adjective.
- espaldas
- Backs; shoulders; rear side of body.
- ese
- That; that one; demonstrative pronoun or adjective.
- peso
- Weight; heaviness; also Spanish currency unit.
- muerto
- Dead; deceased; lifeless person or object.
- de
- Of; from; belonging to; indicates possession.
- degradación
- Degradation; reduction in rank or status.
- social
- Social; relating to society or community.
- parcialmente
- Partially; partly; not completely; in part.
- enmascarado
- Masked; hidden; concealed; disguised appearance.
- detrás
- Behind; at the back of something.
- un
- A; an; indefinite article masculine singular.
- problema
- Problem; issue; difficulty requiring solution.
- negro
- Black; dark; relating to black color.
- apenas
- Hardly; scarcely; just; barely mentioned or done.
- nombrado
- Named; mentioned; appointed to position.
- Sintió
- su
- His; her; its; their; possessive adjective.
- pobreza
- Poverty; state of being poor economically.
- sin
- Without; lacking; deprived of something.
- centavo
- Cent; monetary unit; small coin value.
- hogar
- Home; house; place where family lives.
- tierra
- Land; earth; soil; ground; territory.
- herramientas
- Tools; implements used for work.
- ni
- Neither; nor; not even; negative conjunction.
- ahorros
- Savings; money saved accumulated over time.
- había
- Had; there was; past tense of haber.
- entrado
- Entered; gone into; past participle of entrar.
- en
- In; into; within; indicates location or state.
- competencia
- Competition; contest; also competence or ability.
- con
- With; accompanying; together with; indicates company.
- vecinos
- Neighbors; people living nearby in area.
- ricos
- Rich; wealthy; having abundant money or resources.
- terratenientes
- Landowners; people owning land property estates.
- hábiles
- Skilled; clever; adept at doing something.
- Ser
- To be; to exist; fundamental verb.
- hombre
- Man; human male; mankind; person.
- pobre
- Poor; lacking money or resources economically.
- es
- Is; third person singular present of ser.
- difícil
- Difficult; hard; challenging; not easy.
- pero
- But; however; expresses contrast or exception.
- raza
- Race; ethnicity; breed; type of people.
- dólares
- Dollars; unit of currency used internationally.
- fondo
- Bottom; background; fundamental basis or essence.
- mismo
- Same; self; identical; very; exactly.
- penurias
- Hardships; hardship; scarcity; difficulties; privations.
- ignorancia
- Ignorance; lack of knowledge or education.
- no
- No; not; negation; denial of statement.
- solo
- Only; solely; just; alone; single.
- letras
- Letters; characters; literature; written characters.
- sino
- But; rather; instead; except; fate.
- vida
- Life; existence; way of living.
- negocios
- Business; commerce; deals; commercial transactions.
- humanidades
- Humanities; human studies; liberal arts disciplines.
- pereza
- Laziness; slothfulness; idleness; unwillingness to work.
- acumulada
- Accumulated; gathered; collected over time.
- evasión
- Evasion; escape; avoidance; tax evasion.
- torpeza
- Clumsiness; awkwardness; lack of grace.
- décadas
- Decades; periods of ten years.
- siglos
- Centuries; periods of one hundred years.
- encadenaban
- Chained; bound; enslaved; linked together.
- manos
- Hands; upper limbs with fingers.
- pies
- Feet; lower limbs; bottom part.
- tampoco
- Neither; not either; also not.
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