Analysis Of We Wear The Mask

In Semester One of the 2014-2015 school year, our Jr. Honors English class has read many texts that have a simple meaning, and some that can mean more when read deeper than just the surface. Three of my favorite texts from Semester One are Paul Dunbar’s “We Wear a Mask,” Edwin Robinson’s “Richard Cory,” and Edgar Masters’ “Lucinda Matlock.” “We Wear a Mask” is one of my favorite texts from the beginning of our school year because it means to show that the racial differences weren’t settled for a long time even after the American Civil War. I enjoy “Richard Cory” because its meaning is the base of the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” “Lucinda Matlock” is another one of my favorites because it reminds me of the fact that all I do is

The negative emotions in this poem have always been a component of black America’s struggle. In "We Wear The Mask,” The writer describes how people purposely change their external appearances and how this can be both detrimental and helpful. This is seen through his expertise use of metaphors and hyperboles. The poem is also about the mask, humans wear to disguise pain, sadness, or turmoil when in the company of others. The speaker opens with the title of the poem so that readers know that the “mask” (1) is really important. Dunbar gives the mask human characteristics because the people have allowed the mask to go from being temporarily on their face to permanent. It is ironic that the people wear the mask to conceal their suffering, but it causes them to suffer more.The use of hyperbole to express how serious the mask is and exaggerate it's power is seen in line (4) which states " With torn and bleeding hearts we smile". The hyperbole spotlights how the mask is powerful because it feeds off the peoples insecurities and negative emotions. Dunbar uses metaphors to exaggerate the emotions in the poems. He uses metaphor when the poem says "In counting all our tears and sigh " (7). It is impractical to count tears and sighs, henceforth the poet means that the world is unable to understand blacks' sufferings. Hyperbole and metaphors used in the poem links to how everyone wears a mask once in the while and has the

Dunbar’s overall statement in We Wear the Mask is that these African-Americans, including himself, not once revealed all of the sadness, anger, and agony they went through; they simply smiled and faked their happiness while they were anguished and hurting inside, probably to avoid provoking conflict with Caucasian groups of people. The purpose of this title was to inform the reader of the exasperating struggle African-Americans had to endure during this period of time due to race inequality, all in a total of three stanzas and 15

     Throughout African American history, African Americans have used poems as a way of describing the African American condition in America. One poet who was widely known for using poetry to describe the condition of African Americans in America was Paul Laurence Dunbar. Paul Laurence Dunbar was one of the most prolific poets of his time. Paul Laurence Dunbar used vivid, descriptive and symbolic language to portray images in his poetry of the senseless prejudices and racism that African Americans faced in America. Throughout this essay I will discuss, describe and interpret Sympathy and We Wear the Mask. Both Sympathy and We Wear the Mask were written by Paul Laurence Dunbar.

The poem We Wear the Masks by Paul Dunbar is an example of how people hide their feelings due to what others think of them. Like in the book To Kill a Mockingbird, the colored people in town are stereotyped due to their color and looks. The poem states, “We wear the mask that grins and lies, it hides our cheeks and shades our eyes” (Dunbar). When people are stereotyped they hide their feelings to make others happy. Wearing the mask is a symbol of how people cover themselves to get away from their feelings.

Dually Randall and Paul Laurence Dunbar are two African American writers living during the early twentieth century. These men did not know each other, however, they both encountered the same hardship of being an African American living before the civil rights movement. Both men use poems that emphasize sound, structure and imagery to express what they experienced during that harsh time. A careful analysis of “We Wear the Mask” and “Ballad of Birmingham” expose that the shadows cast on their skin has a lasting impression.

Oppression is at the root of many of the most serious, enduring conflicts in the world. Times were tough in America during the turn of the century. Lots of changes were occurring, and many folks had a difficult time coming to terms with them. Black Americans in particular found themselves caught in a culture that appeared somewhat better than it had been before and during the Civil War. But the fact of the matter was: things just weren't so peachy. This poem is a reaction to the racial climate of the late nineteenth century. The son of former slaves, Paul Laurence Dunbar, was born on June 27, 1872 in Dayton, Ohio to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American Civil War. At age 33, he died of tuberculosis on February 9, 1906. He was the first African-American poet to reach a wide audience, publishing verse poems and short stories before his early death. His use of both negro dialect and standard English helped to portray his cultural lifestyle, joys, and tribulations distinguishing him from other writers of the late 1800s, early 1900s. In his poem, the speaker opens the poem with the declaration that we wear masks that hide our true feelings. He goes on to emphasize the severity of the pain and suffering that these masks try to cover up. By the end we understand that all of the politeness and subdued emotions are just phony disguises of the painful truths that hide behind them. With that knowledge, he try’s to get his audience to understand his purpose in

Dunbar and his work were mentioned in major magazines and newspapers. By 1896 Dunbar had published his third collection, but first professionally published volume, Lyrics of Lowly Life. In this volume Dunbar wrote a poem called, “We Wear the Mask.” In the poem, “We Wear the Mask”, lies and deceit, suffering, race, and society and class are used as themes to illustrate the African American life during and before Dunbar’s lifetime. The purpose of this analysis is to explore certain

An ideal display of the mask is found in Charles Chestnutt’s, “The Passing of Grandison.” In this story, Colonel, the slave master thought that his servant Grandison would on no account try to escape if permitted to go on a journey with his son, Dick. In fact, the Colonel recommends that Dick take Grandison along on his travels rather than Tom, who Dick was trying to take at first. “What’s the matter with Grandison?” suggested the colonel. “He’s handy enough, and I reckon we can trust him. He’s too fond of good eating to risk losing his regular meals; besides, he’s sweet on your mother’s maid, Betty…” (594) This passage shows the Colonel’s confidence in Grandison as a faithful servant, and illuminates the

If you just read Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask” from a literary perspective, you will see a story about people wearing a smiling lying mask. From a symbolic point of view “We Wear the Mask” is much more than just a people wearing a mask. This poem symbolizes world problems that existed during the nineteenth century and problems that still exist today, such as racism against the African American community. It represents the pain and the struggles that they had to face during that era, and how they smiled through all the hard times. This poem could also represent people with depression. Spiritual Guidance is used in the end of the essay as well.

In line 14 when Dunbar says, “But let the world dream otherwise” (Dunbar) personification is shown. The world can not dream. It is a human characteristic. By the author saying this he is inferring that the world is a terrible place, and we can only dream of how beautiful it can be. The world can only be as good as people are.

Throughout the poem, “We Wear the Mask,” by Paul Dunbar, varied poetic devices are used, and device supports the authors implied theme. As one analyzes the poem, the specific theme that is indicated has to do with racial discrimination and the need to hide culture, ethnicity, and traditions, in order to shield oneself from the hate other would indict upon you. While many poetic devices are presented in this poem, there are three that are used in such a way that supports the main theme entirely; metaphors, rhetorical questions, and hyperboles. One particular and encompassing metaphor is “the mask,” which is meant to represent an African-Americans to, in a sense, hide themselves in order to be accepted. The rhetorical questions used throughout

He suggests that they believed the people with power should see what they want them to see. They never expressed their true feelings. From the beginning, African- Americans have been represented in a false way to the society. As Daly Guilamo emphasizes in his article “Paul Laurence Dunbar and Juan Bosch Converse on Racial Violence: Writing Justice and Injustice” that “Paul Laurence Dunbar uses the guise of white American guilt to portray lynching as a racist tradition that is outdated and incompatible with modernism.” (p. 22). Daly Guilamo article emphasizes about how people should have given them the respect they deserved even as slaves. Moreover, Dunbar knew that words are more powerful than any other thing in this world. Just as Joanne Gabbin, states in his article “Intimate Intercessions in the Poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar” that “the Biblical figure who helped to establish the Christian church, Dunbar took seriously his parents' charge to be a great man who would carry the word to his people” (p. 227). “We wear the mask” expresses every bit of expression that African- Americans, slaves have felt. It contributes to cultural ideas and expectations to the society in the form of expression. It promotes the values of African- Americans having rights to freely express themselves, but they couldn’t. It supports the idea that slaves were hiding their emotions because they felt it was the best way to get away from the

In the poem, Dunbar inserts several different words that relate to pain or hurt. I believe the reason why he put these words in her is to show the emotions of african americans at that time, and they could not do anything about it. While the reader is reading the poem, they will catch on every quickly and recognize the painful

Repeating the phrase “we wear the mask” in each stanza embeds the seriousness of the deeper meaning into the readers mind. Giving the mask, world and clay humanlike features provides a sense of comparison and connection. We, as humans, mask our emotions every day. From the beginning we are brainwashed into thinking that if someone shows weakness or sorrow they are failure. In reality, a person cannot grow without failure; no lessons would be learned from pervious mistakes made.