Paul Lawrence Dunbar We Wear The Mask

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.

In the poem We Wear the Mask by Paul Dunbar, we are given a message of hiding identity and or pain due to a situation, but this poem can also have many different meanings. This is shown in Lord of the Flies. It shows various characters putting on a mask to survive. For example, we see a clear example with Jack due to him physically wearing a mask. He uses the mask to change himself due to the self-hate produced when not being able to become who he wanted, a leader.

This mask holds back all the sorrow, protects you from being further destroyed by others words or actions, and covers up the real extreme problems people are facing such as suicide and drug overdose. Both texts use these “masks” metaphorically to show how the people protect themselves.

The literary device of the mask in Fahrenheit 451, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and Lord of the Flies is recurring in each of the stories. The metaphoric mask is a both physical and symbolic object that alters the characteristics of an individual; usually the protagonist. The protagonist either gradually puts on or takes off the mask to change as a person. The mask itself acts how you would expect a real mask to work. A mask typically obscures the vision so that you can only see in one direction, and some obscure our vision to a blur. Despite that, the mask has a much deeper connotation in literature. The obscurity produced by the mask placed on one is not a true mask, but an event or decision significantly altering the traits of an individual. Such a transition is portrayed in literature as the putting on or removal of an actual mask. This makes easier for readers to understand, and creates a perceptible connection between the symbolism and reality. In the Lord of the Flies and Star Wars:

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.

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 the novel The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas and the poem “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Dunlap, the authors highlight how hiding one’s own identity comes with consequences. For example, in We Wear the Mask, by Paul Laurence Dunbar, the author shares his frustrating experience of having to wear a mask and hide who he is. For example, in the first stanza, the author writes, “We wear the mask that grins and lies,” and that “it hides our cheeks and shades our eyes” (1-2). Here, the author is saying how people put on a happy appearance to hide how they truly feel. However, putting on a mask to cover how you feel is a problem because it results in no change for the better.

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

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

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 this poem, Dunbar uses iambic tetrameter, refrain, and sound repetition in order to drive home his point. Dunbar is saying that despite the cruelties African Americans suffer they cant let their oppressors see them falter and must continue to work diligently towards equality. The iambic tetrameter keeps the poem slowly and steadily moving forward, reflecting African Americans slowly moving towards equality. The refrain of “We wear the mask,” strengthens and reinforces Dunbar’s call to keep moving forward.

In both poems, the author uses emotions as an underlying theme to demonstrate how the character reacts to their surroundings. Like in Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town, E.E. Cummings uses the shift from despair to desire and then peace. Likewise, in We Wear the Mask, Paul Laurence Dunbar writes “Why should the world be over-wise, in counting all our tears and sighs”(Dunbar 6-7), but says to let the world dream otherwise. The themes in these poems help the reader to understand the background of the leading character, therefore assisting the reader in comprehending the full meaning of the poems.

The rhetorical effect of this poem is it emphasizes that African Americans have to wear a mask because the people around them don’t let them show their true feelings. Before the Civil Rights Movement, blacks had no voice and could not speak their opinions. The rhetorical devices do very well to help meet the rhetorical

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