Analysis Of We Wear The Mask

African American literature from the Colonial era through Reconstruction shows how African Americans were always treated differently and many of them had to either ignore the awful things the white people said to them, or they had to hide behind a mask of someone everyone tells them to be. One of these incidences of having to just ignore society was in the folktale “’Member Youse a Nigger” when John spend his days keeping quiet and doing only the things that would set him free. While the story “The Wife of His Youth” by Charles Chestnutt and the poem “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar were about the effects that society has on ‘colored’ people. Both stories showing how people feel it is okay to pretend to be someone that they aren’t

In the poem, “We Wear the Mask’, the narrator, Paul Lawrence Dunbar, expresses the pain African American experienced during the slave trade and how the slaves learned to suppress their emotions. The poem shows a contrast between African American’s social faces and their “bleeding hearts”. The tone of the poem is not a corrective tone, but rather an explanatory one. In considering the time period, it would make sense that the narrator would be careful about insulting the white community. In the first stanza the tone starts as explanatory in just speaking of the masquerade and state of oppression. Then the last two stanzas are very matter of fact. When the narrator sarcastically states, “Why should the world be otherwise”. Showing

The story “Sonny’s Blues” By James Baldwin is about a jazz musician and his brother in 1950’s Harlem. The story centers on Sonny who uses jazz music as an escape from his depression. James Baldwin captures the art of jazz during this time period. The themes in this short story are perhaps varied, but all of them revolve around some form of suffering. One theme shows how music can promote change and understanding within relationships. A second theme reveals suffering caused by guilt. Yet another theme references the results of suffering brought about by searching for ones’ identity and how that leads to misunderstanding. There are also subthemes concerning racism and poverty.

The lyric poem “We wear the mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar is a poem about the African American race, and how they had to conceal their unhappiness and anger from whites. This poem was written in 1895, which is around the era when slavery was abolished. Dunbar, living in this time period, was able to experience the gruesome effects of racism, hatred and prejudice against blacks at its worst. Using literary techniques such as: alliteration, metaphor, persona, cacophony, apostrophe and paradox, Paul Dunbar’s poem suggests blacks of his time wore masks of smiling faces to hide their true feelings.

Ultimately, since Dunbar avoids specifically mentioning blacks and their suffering, with the history of this poem in mind, this poem could stand as a lament on behalf of all of the individuals who were forcefully made to wear a “mask” just as a girl who tries to hide her pregnancy from her parents, or as a boy who

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.

The Harlem Renaissance was a period that started in the early 1920’s in which the concept of “the Negro” was intended to be changed (History.com). This period witnessed the thrive of African American art. White stereotypes had influenced not only the way African Americans were perceived in society but also their relationship between themselves and others. Participants like Gwendolyn Bennett, Langston Hughes, Paul Lawrence Dunbar and W.E.B. Du Bois were some of many authors of creative pieces that reflected their points of views. Like George Hutchinson writes in his article, The Harlem Renaissance brought many African Americans from South to North which helped the rise of literacy and the creation of organizations dedicated to promoting African American civil rights that resulted in the uplift of the race and the availability of socioeconomic opportunities (1). The distinctive expression through things like poetry and music during the Harlem Renaissance reflected the reality and experiences black people were going through. This essay is going to focus on the relationship between poetry, politics and representation while relying on the poem “We Wear the Mark” by Paul Lawrence Dunbar. At the same time, this paper will be supported with works from Langston Hughes, Alain Locke and W.E.B. Dubois.

“In Defense of Masks”, by Kenneth Gergen regards that it is not possible for humans to adequately find a coherent self identity without an aftermath. Gergen states, “to the extent that they do, they many experience severe emotional distress” when trying to do so (172). He refers to Erik Erickson, a psychologist who speaks about how self-alienation can result due to the pressures of society to individuals with various masks of identity.

Nothing is more real than the mask we choose to show each other who we are. In a coming-to-age novel, A Separate Peace, John Knowles depicts the common rivalry between young adolescents, where masks are used often. Gene is a student at an elite boarding school, Devon, when he meets Finny. As his jealousy grows towards Finny, it leads to an awful life-changing decision. When they are planning on a double jump, Gene bounces on the limb causing Finny to suffer from a horrible fall. Finny later finds out about the truth and runs away in fury, which caused him to break his leg again. As he was receiving a surgery for his injury, Finny died. Gene’s transformation involves the changes of his mask and shadow, which results in his later acceptance of

Gender roles often have disastrous consequences for people who struggle to fill their assigned stereotype. Last Wednesday, Carnegie Mellon had a special showing of a new film, The Mask You Live In, that focuses on how society’s narrow definition of masculinity can cause more harm than good.

After watching The Mask You Live In, I thought it was interesting to see how the notion of oppression of women across many cultures. So I grew up in an Asian family and that has impacted me greatly. In East Asia, the majority of the population view women as inferior to men. As a matter of fact, women are often viewed as objects simply to reproduce and help extend the family.

What are masks? One usually thinks it is an object the individual puts on and takes off.

In verse two feelings of the necessary trudge/empowering iambic stride further unfolds. On the one hand Dunbar points to all the “tears and sighs” experienced by the collective “We”. But in the throws of this potential unempowered feelings, Dunbar seizes upon an element of control that can be taken.  “Why should the world be over-wise … nay let them only see us whilst we wear the mask”. In these words there is a boldness and resignation to not let the world have the privilege or even satisfaction perhaps, of seeing behind the mask into the suffering that is really going on.

In We Wear the Mask, the author’s purpose is to push the reader to feel something about the way things were in his perspective.

The film The Mask You Live In was written, filmed and directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom. It was released on January 25, 2015 at the premiere of the Sundance Film Festival. Jennifer also released a similar film called Miss Representation, a film about what the expectations of a woman were according to the media. According to the film, using hyper-masculinity among boys and young men through parental teachings and social expectations in the United States negatively affects them psychologically as it affects their way of decision-making and become more isolated throughout their lives. I firmly agree with Newsom’s message she was trying to send out to her intended audience, the parents and our society at large communicated through statistics shown as title sequences and the testimonies coming from boys and men who were once at-risk.