Paul Laurence Dunbar We 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

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.

The figurative language in a given poem usually correlates to the theme and, nevertheless, gives it personality in some way. In “We Wear the Mask,” the figurative language is darker, ordinarily connecting it to the theme of hiding your true feelings behind your “mask”. The writer, Paul Laurence Dunbar, uses personification the most in his poem, moreover, creating an image that correlates with the theme. Personification most easily creates an image that the writer can shape to connect with the theme. Dunbar uses this personification in a darker way, to connect with the more serious theme of hiding your feelings behind your imperceptible “mask”. “We wear the mask that grins and lies, it hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,” is personifying the mask (Lines 1-2). Since this poem is mainly about hiding behind our alleged mask, it seems reasonable that Dunbar would personify the mask. Since he did so, the mask is given another level of depth that allows us to see the mask as the main object of the theme. The theme is developed by using this personification of the mask. Although diction and figurative language are important for developing the theme, they are not the only structure elements that can do

In “We Wear a Mask,” the speaker is speaking about wearing a mask, but not a real mask, just facial emotions that are a lie, “We wear the mask that grins and lies.” This reminds me of the movie, “The Butler,” because Cecil, the butler, has to learn to act as if the room was empty, and he was never to show his emotions or speak his mind. In the movie, there was a time when he was the one who was being served and not the server, but then he could see the mask that they had to wear for the other people to see. That’s why this text reminds me of the Civil Right Movement, because even after the American Civil War had settled the issue of slavery, white Americans still looked down upon African Americans. The blacks were help and butlers, those who took care of white people in their society, but were paid for it, so they couldn’t be called slaves, but because the whites still looked down on African Americans, they didn’t care about their lives or how they felt. It’s things like this that led to the Civil Rights Movement, because things still weren’t fair between whites and blacks. This text just shows the view from the other side, it’s a view from someone who had to please the whites by not being human, by hiding their emotions and anything they

We Wear a Mask a poem written by Paul Laurence Dunbar has a deeper meaning than a person just wearing a mask. It represents a person trying to hide their true feelings. When the author uses “We” instead of “I” it indicates that the society as a whole wears a mask to hide from the truth. As mentioned in the first stanza it talks about the declaration that a group of people are wearing a mask; hides their true feeling. The second stanza translates to the world needs to pity and lament over the woes of the community. The third stanza translates to ending the poem with a proud declaration that even though we cry inside we take pride in it. The meaning of the poem leads to the tone being realistic, pleading and proud. In the poem, it says “with

They didn’t witness what transpired, when it transpired, nor how it transpired; therefore, why get emotional and distraught about slavery. Slavery was a dreadful time; conversely, proper education of slavery will reduce perplexity.

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”.

Black men have never been able to fully express themselves without getting ridiculed by society. “Research on masculinity and manhood with Black men has found their ideas of manhood to be different from those “traditional” male characteristics (Chaney, 2009; Hammond & Mattis, 2005; Hunter & Davis, 1992; Mincey, Alfonso, Hackney & Luque, 2014).” There is an unwritten rule book of telling how a Black man is supposed to act and think. That is why most Black men feel the need to hide their emotions

Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask,” exposes the deception of a grin and the truth that lies behind it and demonstrates that Gatsby used his materials and wealth to fit into society. In the poem Dunbar implies that the mask is a facade that conceals the true emotion of someone. Gatsby masked his true persona and identified himself wearing a mask of wealth and materials. The mask gives power to the powerless but at the same time it allows people to live within a lie.

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.

I was born in Dallas, Texas but when I was 3 years old I was taken to my parents’ home country, Mexico. My mother took my younger sister and me to Mexico while my father stayed in the United States and worked to provide for us. I spend 6 years in Mexico and I went to school there. I had an amazing childhood in the place my parents were born and had the opportunity to grow up around my family and culture. I became a fond lover of the traditions and the peaceful life of what I consider my country. I have many amazing memories from living in Mexico. The way everything called for a celebration where everyone was invited. The dedication that every festival I attended showed. Simply all the traditions that even when I live miles away from Mexico have stuck with me, things I still celebrate with my family every year. I love to be able to call myself Mexican American and to be able to share my parents. My love for Mexican culture plays a role in my decision to want to go to Spain. I want to see where some of the customs I know originated from and see where my ancestors came from.

The last group that is affected by slavery is those in which do not own slaves and are not a slave themselves. Initially one would assume that there would be no correlation to the cause and effect of slavery to this particular group of individuals, but in fact there is. Slavery being cheap labor is not free labor. In slavery there is a financial cost expended by the slave holder. This cost is induced through food, housing and more importantly training and tools to complete production. The slaves were trained in handling tools to complete tasks. Many of the non-slave owners did not have

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.

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