Summary Of We Wear The Mask By Paul Lawrence Dunbar

Helping making the theme of this poem clear that many blacks wore a mask that suggested happiness and contentment, but concealed

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

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.

I chose the topic of this mask, based off the boys improper and confused relationship with Piggy. The theme of this mask, is discrimination. It stood out to me how unfair the boys treat Piggy, they view Piggy as powerless and having no sense of command. It also felt like the boys are confused with Piggy, because of his superego personality. He was raised by adults, and acts like one. This makes Piggy hard to relate with the boys and often leaves them frustated and confused. I feel like everyone once had a time in their life where they felt mistreated, and not having a opportunity to express their point of view. Therefore, we feel meaningless along with neglected, and are overpowered by a group of people which we simply can not overcome.

Paul Laurence Dunbar, in “We Wear The Mask”, talks about the “mask” he and others are forced to wear to provide an illusion of happiness, and cover up their real emotions from the rest of the world. Dunbar asks the rhetorical question of why the world should know their true emotions and be “over-wise” in counting their tears and sighs. He answers his own question by saying that they should only let them see them with their masks on. He concludes, by calling onto a higher power, exclaiming that the higher power is the only one that knows their true emotions, but he wants the rest of the world to believe otherwise. Both these poems, although different in situations, address the issues of social ignorance and standards by using metaphorical symbols and wording.

In the 1896 symbolic poem “We Wear the Mask,” Paul Laurence Dunbar suggests that people are apathetic to the pain and suffering of others making it easier for one to hide their troubles behind a mask than to confront them. In the beginning, Dunbar uses a spine-chilling tone as he describes the mask while utilizing strange diction to exhibit the deception and protection that the mask symbolizes. Dunbar continues his eerie tone and strange diction as he uses juxtaposition to show that despite the pain people feel the mask they wear gives them a smiling appearance because the world does not care to see people’s hearts in pain. In the middle Dunbar shifts to a sarcastic tone and somber diction as he asserts that the world does not care about the

What does it mean to be a good poet? Who is a good poet? There is only one answer to these questions, and the answer is that- a good poet is someone who can bring hidden and exciting emotions through their work and can make the readers feel exactly what they were trying to convey through words. Paul Laurence Dunbar is the best African- American poet of the 19th century and early 20th century. His work leaves behind a legacy. Especially the poem “We Wear Mask”. The poem strongly conveys the struggle, the inner experience, and the humiliation of the African- American community.

Furthermore, in “We Wear the Mask”, Paul Laurence talks about the different ways all types of feelings and emotions can be hidden. Every person in the world has some sort of hidden struggle or triumph. A mask is used to hide what everyone wants kept in the dark. A mask symbolizes protection and disguise. In fact, Laurence states, “We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes” (Line 1). Through the quote, the author explains that no matter what people portray to the world, a mask covers what truly lies within. Sometimes others have an understandable explanation for the front they put up. A critic suggests, “This debt we pay to human guile; / With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, / And mouth with myriad subtleties” (“Explanation of: 'We Wear the Mask' by Paul Laurence Dunbar"). The meaning of this

The poems We Wear the Mask by Paul Dunbar and Harlem by Langston Hughes have similarities. In my mind, the use of figurative language resides in both thinkers conceive of being a person of color in America. For Dunbar, the use of the “mask” is designed to conceal the pain of being Black in America. The mask is to hide the struggle and frustration that speaks opportunity, but delivers another reality. The use of figurative language is designed to present that a dual consciousness plagues people of color for one part of their identity seeks to believe the promises and possibilities of America while another fully understands the despair and denial within it. The mask is employed as a metaphor to convey both experiences.

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

In society, people are constantly worried about “fitting in” and fear being themselves will hinder their ability to conform to society. Many people fear that being themselves will have a detrimental effect on their social life, and others feel that they are outcasts and that they need to be someone they’re not in order to be socially accepted. People often try to hide their true personality, and wear a “mask.” To metaphorically wear a mask is to express yourself the way you want to be seen, rather than how you actually feel. This instills the idea that one’s own personality is not good enough, creating a fear of being yourself, causing people to wear a “mask.” People wear these masks in an attempt to navigate in society, to preserve innocence,

In “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar, the audience is deferred by who is being addressed because of the use of “we.” This all-inclusive point of view in the poem opens up the question of who this poem is directed towards and what the mask is covering. Because of the ambiguous manner of the poem, it is easy for all readers to empathize with. This poem can be taken in the literal sense of humans in general hiding behind masks or the racial oppression of the time and the meanings behind those masks.

The speaker of “We Wear the Mask” talks about people covering their pain and torment by smiling through the pain or hiding their true selves with a “mask”. They question why the world should have to see their tears and sighs. The speaker changes their focus and becomes more emotional, and cries for help for this feeling of being forced to hide. The speaker cries for help by proclaiming, “We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries To thee from tortured souls arise.” (lines 10-11). The repetition of the word “smile” shows that they cover the same emotions up with the mask, which suggests that when they start feeling emotional, they will smile to cover their agony. When the speaker continues with the phrase “O great Christ”, they show that they

Communicating multi-layered nuances in comparing two literary pieces is not easy, nor for the feeble-minded. Fictional world literature of a certain astounding caliber demands that readers take judicious notes in expansion of their feelings, shame, dramatic impulses, and all the other extraordinary factors that make us human. The finest of literature crafters and genius-level writers, such as Toni Morrison, conduct the expulsion of one’s own personal memories, leading audiences to explore the lives and keen significances of the worlds of other people. One shall not insalubriously ignore the fact, however, that Dr. Morrison’s works are