We Wear The Mask

“Every man’s life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another.” This quote was expressed by the renowned novelist, Ernest Hemingway. Speaking of Hemingway, despite being an exceptionally successful novelist he was a very depressed man and often turned to alcohol to dwindle his feelings of depression. In collaboration with alcohol, the novelist, who established his literary dominance during the 1920’s, wrote amazing pieces of american literature. Hemingway was joined with many American icons including: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Charles Lindbergh, Al Capone, Babe Ruth, Albert Einstein, Langston Hughes, and many more famous men and women. With the amount of huge influences listed, the 1920s were undoubtedly a huge contributor in shaping American culture.

On August, 1590, John White, the governor of the Roanoke colony returned to the island of Roanoke to discover that the colonials once inhabiting the land a few years ago, were now gone. All that was left was peaces of iron, armor, and some logs burning in a fire pit. It was 3 years ago when John White was voted to sail back to England, for the English colonists were in need of more supplies, since planting crops wasn’t at the time a possibility, do to the particular time of the year, and the English were attempting to establish permanent colonies, since previous colonies had failed. Before the disappearance of 17 colonists on the island of Roanoke, initially 108 colonials were at the island, the third attempt the English had made to establish a permanent colony. However, when these 108 colonists were discovered to be dead by a relief ship, 17 of the English were left behind to reinsure the property of the English would remain their property. These 17 colonials would meet a mysterious fate, one that historians are still trying to solve, with several theories established, but with little solid evidence. Years later, the question is still the same, what happened to the Roanoke colonists? However many theories that were established, there is 1 that resonates the most. This theory states that the English had gone to the nearby island of Croatoan, and proceeded to intermarry those a part of the Croatoan tribe, and

Tanya Golash-Boza illustrates a personal life experience about the video of a baby who was having health issues because his mother was deported, and he kept rejecting the bottle. Surprisingly many comments on the video expressed hate towards the mother for being immigrant, and towards the baby for now being the orphan son of an immigrant. Many Americans have developed hate against immigrants because the government has created a stereotype of them as burdens and deviates. Politics and society focus on how immigrants can affect the economy or the country's security, creating a common feeling of contempt. Focus in the material issues has faded the human side of some members in society. The government forgets that immigrants are humans with rights, friends and family bonds. Any enacted law will affect

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

Paul Laurence Dunbar was born in a northern town near Dayton, Ohio on June 27, 1872 (Brawley 12). His parents instilled in him the value of an education, and he excelled at the all-white Dayton Central High-school where he held the titles of class president, the president of the school literary society, and the editor of the school's newspaper (15). Dunbar was extremely well learned; he spoke and wrote in Standard English, but just as often his poetry was written in black dialect. As one of the first professional African American literary figures (Baym 1038), Paul Laurence Dunbar's poetry consists of two distinct styles: his dialect pieces with the simple rhyme schemes of the ballad lyrical form, such as his 1897 poem When Malindy

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

Oppression is at the root of many of the most serious, enduring conflicts in the world. Times were tough in America during the turn of the century. Lots of changes were occurring, and many folks had a difficult time coming to terms with them. Black Americans in particular found themselves caught in a culture that appeared somewhat better than it had been before and during the Civil War. But the fact of the matter was: things just weren't so peachy. This poem is a reaction to the racial climate of the late nineteenth century. The son of former slaves, Paul Laurence Dunbar, was born on June 27, 1872 in Dayton, Ohio to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American Civil War. At age 33, he died of tuberculosis on February 9, 1906. He was the first African-American poet to reach a wide audience, publishing verse poems and short stories before his early death. His use of both negro dialect and standard English helped to portray his cultural lifestyle, joys, and tribulations distinguishing him from other writers of the late 1800s, early 1900s. In his poem, the speaker opens the poem with the declaration that we wear masks that hide our true feelings. He goes on to emphasize the severity of the pain and suffering that these masks try to cover up. By the end we understand that all of the politeness and subdued emotions are just phony disguises of the painful truths that hide behind them. With that knowledge, he try’s to get his audience to understand his purpose in

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

During this time, Harlem drew black writers, artists, musicians, photographers, poets, and scholars. People had come from the South, fleeing oppression in order to find a place where they could freely express their talents. African Americans did manage to succeed in the arts but because of the color of their skin, they faced some problems. The poem “Sonnet To A Negro in Harlem” by Helene Johnson provided this “Why urge ahead your supercilious feet? Scorn will efface each footprint you make” which means that every time a black person succeeds, it will be erases by contempt that whites have towards them. As African Americans become more affluent, they realize that not everyone will accept their triumph so they end up putting up a front or wearing a mask that hides who they truly are. The poem “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Lawrence Dunbar says “Why should the world be over-wise, In counting all our tears and sighs? Nay, let them only see us while, We wear the mask” which means why does the world pretend to understand the struggles that blacks have gone through. To avoid that situation, blacks should wear a mask to conceal their difficulties so that everybody else doesn’t need to claim they apprehend their endeavors. These poems show that the roles of African Americans changes from individuals who achieved success to ones who have to hide their

Masks embody a side of ourselves many do not particularly know they have. Many masks are unrecognizable to the human eye, but come to appear when people are around certain others, for example many would not act the same around a teacher versus a friend. Throughout history masks have been worn even by the most cruel men and women; German Nazis. These soldiers of World War II, all wore an appearance that hides their true identity; a shaved head and a uniform transformed, these people into hostile animals. William Golding a film directory and school teacher, noticed these transformations due to being the army at the time and wrote about it in his,novel Lord of the Flies.

 On the way to this crescendo, Dunbar continues to add depth and breadth to the mask metaphor. “Cheeks and eyes are being hidden, and in “mouth with myriad subtleties” At this point in the poem there is little to lead the reader

In these lines from Derek Walcott’s “A Far Cry from Africa,” the speaker emphasizes the natural human tendencies to “inflict pain.” Similarly, in his poem, “Sympathy,” Paul Dunbar explores pain from the point of view of a bird being trapped in a cage. It flaps its wings and tries to escape but it cannot. The bird symbolizes an African American bound by slavery and unable to escape. On the other hand, in Claude McKay’s poem “The Harlem Dancer,” the dancer feels as if

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” (King). Today's society is based on the appearance of a person, and the color of a their skin. African Americans should not have to cover up themselves because of their race. In Paul Laurence Dunbar's poem, “We Wear the Mask”, he speaks up about slavery and inequality. The meaning in Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask” is discrimination of African Americans and how they get treated because the color of their skin.

Essentially, the person of this poem is asking why should the world get the right to know why they are truly upset, and potentially use it against them; instead, have pride, hold your head up high, and put on your “mask.” In doing so, the literary term paradox comes into play. This poem is about the true feelings of blacks being hidden behind masks, when also the poem itself hides the fundamental issue of racism from even being mentioned – that alone is a paradox because the poem has a mask on as well. This poem can also be seen as a paradox because this so called “we” is supposed to be wearing a mask when in fact they are expressing their feelings and becoming vulnerable, aka – no more mask.

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