Masks Depicted In Paul Laurence Dunbar's They Wear The Mask

It speaks of how African Americans have to hide behind a mask that hides all their sorrow and pain. Dunbar questions why we have to wear the mask, “Why should the world be overwise, In counting all our tears and sighs? Nay, let them only see us, while We wear the mask.”(918). He speaks of how all of this should not be happening but in the end everyone is still hiding who they are and what they are really feeling. This poem could account for more than just African Americans. Everyone has worn a mask at one point in their lives but the real question is why? Temptations like in “Wife of His Youth” or to get away like in “’Member Youse a Nigger” have had major effects on people and their lives. Being an African American was a hard life for a long time because slavery and the civil war cause many deaths and many families to be broken

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

Masks have held countless uses and meanings throughout history. Masks have been used in plays, like those of Shakespeare, traditional dances, social gatherings, even as a form of casual or corporal punishment. Although masks have several different uses in different cultural situations, the meaning of the masks is generally the same. Masks are used to conceal an appearance and assume the identity of another. Metaphorically, masks can be used to hide feelings, to protect oneself, and to block out the outside world. Many of these examples are shown in Art Speigelman 's Maus.

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.

Paul Laurence Dunbar, dispatches the cold troubles of African Americans in the lyrical poem, "We Wear the Mask." In this poem, Dunbar links imagery, rhythm, rhyme, and word choice to in order to institute a connection to the reader. From reading the poem, one can infer that Mr. Dunbar is speaking in general, of the misery that many people keep concealed under a grin that they wear very well. But if one were to go further and take the time to research Mr. Dunbar’s selection of this piece and the era of which this poem was written, one would come to understand that this poem focuses entirely on Paul Laurence Dunbar’s viewpoints on racial prejudice and the struggle for equality for the African-American’s of his time period. Though this

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.

This proves Gergen’s thesis, “I doubt that people normally develop a coherent sense of identity, and believe that to the extent that they do, they may experience serve emotional distress” (172). By having several masks or selves, is how we are able to adapt to changing society. With these multiple masks we are able to achieve acceptance and know who we are as individuals. Throughout life we must adopt masks when facing different circumstances; it is through these masks that we see how we change as individuals. If we spend our lives trying to stick to one mask, we can find ourselves to feel lost, depressed, or invisible. Change is good; however we must still stay true to ourselves when using masks. They are a part of us as individuals but they are not us.

masks. All the mask that one possesses changes their behavior and in turn, adds to their

We Wear The Mask was written in 1886 with post slavery America being the significant historical backdrop. In this poem, Dunbar explores the duality of experience of African American's at this time. The outward experience presented to the world at large - “We wear the mask that grins and lies” - versus the inward truth of suffering and turmoil - “With torn and bleeding hearts we smile”.

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.

It is a lyric that expresses sorrow and the nature of humans. The mask represents a face we put on when inside we are truly breaking, the face that seems just as artificial as a mask. Because when you wear a mask no one can see you, or your mistakes and brokeness. You are masking your heart and putting on a show that you feel the world will approve of. “But let the world dream otherwise, we wear the mask.”

For example if you had a masks people immediately thought you were an important social purpose . So in this case people thought that servants can be mistaken for noblemen . Also it could've been kind of dangerous in a way because you didn't know what face was under any of those masks so it could've been a spy or someone following you and you would never know it you could even be having a conversation with them and you would never know it . You could literally be giving out information that they could've been trying to get from you for years and you would make it so easy for them because you would answer without fear

Dunbar opens his poem with “We wear the mask,” to draw in any type of

In Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem “We Wear the Mask,” Dunbar uses the figurative wearing of masks to present a theme of denial of one’s identity in favor masks. Dunbar is highly critical of masks as they place heavy societal pressure upon the individual who chooses to hide their feelings and emotions. Dunbar utilizes symbolism to convey the results of the societal pressure placed upon individuals who wear masks. Pressure created by these masks is shown throw the symbolism present throughout Dunbar’s poem. In the poem, Paul Laurence Dunbar connects images of internal sadness and pain to the wearing of masks and the pressure said masks create upon the wearer.

In this story “Online Identity” the narrator wants to fit in. This articles says. “Online identity offers potential social benefits to those with physical and sensory disabilities, because others cannot see them.” “The kind of mask one chooses reveals at least something about the person who chooses it.” Some people use being online as a reason to act different because some are hiding what they truly look like. Specially if they have disabilities and other things that people may not like about them. They hide the parts of themselves that they don’t like. The article describes a mask as something someone hides behind. Some girls/guys use a mask to hide like their insecurity or how they feel about something they do. So their mask reveals