Summary: The Mask You Live In

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

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

“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.

In American culture in the 1950s, men were the predominant head of the household and women were expected to cook, care for their kids, and clean. This is an excellent example of gender roles, and how they control certain aspects of life. Gender roles are, according to multiple sources, the way people behave, what they do or say to express being a female or male. (“Gender Identity”; Blackstone; "Understanding Gender") They are forced upon an individual from the day they are born even in the most trivial of terms of putting baby boys in blue clothes and baby girls in pink. Throughout that person’s life from then on, they will face cultural expectations every day to act according to their sex. Gender roles can often be confusing and hurtful,many stores are moving away from assigning products to a specific gender, but not only can gender roles affect a person’s behavior, it can play a huge role in transgenderism.

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.

“The Mask You Live In,” the 2015 documentary produced by Jennifer Siebel Newson was made to inform it’s audience which are boy and girls from aged 10 to adults that the social expectations which contemporary society sets upon males through popular culture, sports and media is very harmful. This message is not only important for the males who are negatievly impacted by the “man box” however it is harmful for everyone else in their lives as they are impacted directly. This film hopes to shed light to an issue that has been around since the militarization of civilizations when women became inferior to their male counterparts and patriarchy became the dominant approach to social norms. Through the film, we’re able to understand the term of the “manbox.” This term is societies’s rules for acting like a man; the mentality behaviours and restrictions that men and boys are socialy constructed to such as being strong, athletic, providing, aggressive and unemotional.

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

Overall, many stores and popular companies are not conscientious when it comes to gender stereotypes. Most of the popular brands and stores like Disney, Target, and DC Comics are plainly sexist. Fortunately though, many of the popular brands and retailers are making significant efforts to gender neutralize their products. Even though only a few companies are taking action, it could be the start of a new trend. The trend would be very important to future of course of

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”.

Women are used in the media as decoration objects, and they are often sexualized on their appearance. The media uses this representation of women as a way to sell beauty products: skin care, body care, and hair care. This creates certain expectations of what a typical woman should be. Women according to media assumptions should be well maintained and beautiful. The media also interprets women mainly in home setting taking care of family life. Therefore, products used in housework are mainly aimed towards women. For example, laundry supplies, dishwashing liquid, and vacuums. The #1 American Target Advertisement used this type of assumption when they put all of the cleaning supplies in the woman’s cart instead of the man’s

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.

The purpose of this paper was to observe the consumers of a retail store of my choice; I chose to observe Victoria’s Secret and Targets consumers, because I myself am consumers of those stores quite often, then to analyze the behavior of the consumers of Victoria’s Secret and Target. Victoria’s Secret and Target consumers differ because of the difference in type of retail they offer and sell. Victoria’s Secret consumers know what they are going to be shopping for women and certain needs or wants they are looking to satisfy. Target consumers shop for any age and any gender,

In an effort to enhance the customer’s purchasing experience, Harley Davidson has implemented a comprehensive training program for all store managers and staff personnel. The objectives of the training program are to educate the staff on women purchasing habits and specific needs for female owners, as well as how to effectively communicate with female consumers. As a general rule women are typically better informed about a particular product, less impulsive on major purchases, and ask more questions than their male counterparts. Therefore, it is critical that staff members know how to interface with female consumers.

Gender Marketing is not about male versus female. It is about understanding your customer and his profile thoroughly. Marketers generally adopt the approach of neutral marketing to play safe; by and large both men and women feel that they have not been targeted by the marketers properly. The marketers should continuously strive for competitiveness and take benefits from the ever changing environment which can be facilitated by the realization of the concept of gender marketing. In this article I will discuss about the changing role of women today and how it has an impact in marketing of products like online selling, car purchase, garment purchase and food & drinks.