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We wear the mask by paul laurence dunbar analysis
Gedicht von Paul Laurence Dunbar we wear the mask Interpretation
Gedicht von Paul Laurence Dunbar we wear the mask Interpretation
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All people have had a time in their life where they hidden their true emotions, sometimes for their own good. It is very easy for one to lie and smile to make sure the ones around them do not know what is happening on the inside, how they truly feel on the inside. Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem, “We Wear The Mask,” is a fantastic representation of the many lives that live today, and as well in the brutal past, the past of when the African Americans were so harshly treated. It is a rondeau poem that speaks the sad and unfortunate truth of how these many people went for such a long period of time hiding their disturbed emotions in a fake world, with no help. Even though “We Wear The Mask” is a rondeau poem, it is as well introduced as a iambic tetrameter, which contains unstressed and then stressed syllable pairs, occurring four …show more content…
In the next two lines, they state: “We sing, but oh the clay is vile / Beneath our feet, and long the mile.” Dunbar speaks that the people are singing through the pain, even though they are imprisoned on this horrible earth, but will someday be free again, although that day may not come soon enough. The final two lines are very impacting. Dunbar expresses: “But let the world dream otherwise, / We wear the mask!” He says that the people of the world aren’t smart enough to realize the harshness that is happening to these African American people, mostly because they are choosing to do so. Dunbar ends his poem with the final saying of “ We wear the mask!” to express that they are strong and proud together and know that someday they will be free once more. The stating of this refrain one final time acts as a lyrical impact for the
Many writers begin writing and showing literary talent when they are young. Paul Laurence Dunbar, born and raised in Dayton, Ohio, was already editor of a newspaper and had had two of his poems published in the local newspaper before he’d graduated from high school. His classmate, Orville Wright, printed The Tattler which Dunbar edited and published for the local African American community. After graduating from high school, he was forced to get a job as an elevator operator which allowed him spare time for writing. He finally gained recognition outside of Dayton when, in 1892, he was invited to address the Western Association of Writers and met James Newton Matthews who praised his work in a letter to an Illinois newspaper. In 1892, he decided to publish his first book of poems entitled Oak and Ivy and four years later his second book of poems Majors and Minors was published. People began to see him as a symbol for his race, and he was thought of artistically as “a happy-go-lucky, singing, shuffling, banjo-picking being… in a log cabin amid fields of cotton” (Dunbar, AAW 2). Dunbar’s poems, written alternately in literary and dialect English, are about love, death, music, laughter, human frailty, and though Dunbar tried to mute themes of social protest, social commentary on racial themes is present in his poetry.
The poem, "We Wear the Mask”, by Paul Laurence Dunbar is about separating Blacks people from the masks they wear. When Blacks wear their masks they are not simply hiding from their oppressor they are also hiding from themselves. This type of deceit cannot be repaid with material things. This debt can only be repaid through repentance and self-realization. The second stanza of “We Wear the Mask” tells Blacks whites should not know about their troubles. It would only give them leverage over Blacks. Black peoples’ pain and insecurities ought to be kept amongst themselves. There is no need for anyone outside the black race to know what lies beneath their masks. The third stanza turns to a divine being. Blacks look to god because he made them and is the only one that can understand them. They must wear their mask proudly. The world should stay in the dark about who they are. This poem is about Blacks knowing their place and staying in it. This is the only way they could be safe.
Written in iambic tetrameter and in the plain English verse, the writer continually bombards the reader, through continuous repetition, the idea that the Negro hid his emotions behind "The Mask. " This is done to emphasize a sense of deception and belief that the average negro is a happy soul, rather than a "tortured [one]" (p 918,11) as Dunbar implies. The first stanza in itself is a lament of the "Negro's" conditions as perceived by the world. It is a representation of the past, in that the past is the speaker's past lament of the mask, not a past event in history/time. The first two lines of the poem, "We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,-" (p 918,2) are incorporated to introduce the image White Americans see when visualizing the slave.
The Souls of Black Folks by W.E.B DuBois addresses two concepts that illustrate the experience of African Americans including the concept of the Veil and the phenomenon of double-consciousness. Although the author uses these two concepts differently, their usage and meanings are related. These concepts provided a name to African American’s grievances that were felt then that could not be expressed because there were no word that could precisely describe their grievances. The implication was that the grievances experienced for being an African American could be described then, and also be described in present America. DuBois starts by describing the concept of the veil as mainly referring to three meanings. First, the veil looks at the physical differences of Blacks’ darker skin to white skin. Second, the veil looks at the inability of white people to recognize Blacks as Americans. Finally, the veil looks at Blacks’ inability to view themselves outside white American views.
This poem is written from the perspective of an African-American from a foreign country, who has come to America for the promise of equality, only to find out that at this time equality for blacks does not exist. It is written for fellow black men, in an effort to make them understand that the American dream is not something to abandon hope in, but something to fight for. The struggle of putting up with the racist mistreatment is evident even in the first four lines:
The history of African-American oppression began in the early 1600s as slaves arrived on America’s shores. For hundreds of years, African-Americans struggled against crippling segregation, terrorism, and racial enmity to no avail. As a result of extensive physical and psychological beatings, African-Americans became fearful and very reserved in expressing their emotions. Their suffering, however, fuelled a sense of courage in some, such as African-American poets, who found the strength to address uncertainties that others had against their racial identity. These brave men included George Horton, who wrote “Liberty and Slavery”, and Paul Dunbar, author of “We Wear a Mask”. Through their powerful race-protest poetry, Horton and Dunbar portray that African-Americans feel incessantly trapped, both physically and emotionally, resulting in a deep-rooted yearning for freedom.
One of the main themes for “We Wear The Mask” is suffering. The type of suffering that Dunbar is talking about is caused when a person’s world is turned upside down, it makes you feel cold and alone. This suffering is shown in lines 6-7, “Why should the world be overwise, In counting all our tears and sighs?” The narrator feel so alone they think that sharing their feelings is not an option. In the time era Dunbar lived in it was common for his people to be treated cruelly. Knowing the historical background the reader is given more of an insight of how the narrator is feeling. In these lines the narrator tells us how important the mask are to them. The mask serve a a shield
Through the utilization of iambic tetrameter, end rhyme, sound devices, and figurative language, the speaker expresses the hidden pain and suffering African Americans possessed, as they were “tortured souls” behind their masks (10). The poem's meter, iambic tetrameter, represents the speaker's heartfelt attitude towards the sorrow that blacks kept away from whites, and in some cases, themselves. In the first stanza, the speaker declares that "[w]ith torn and bleeding hearts we smile, / And mouth with myriad subtleties" (lines 4-5). During the time when Dunbar published "We Wear the Mask," blacks faced constant discrimination and were treated without dignity. They felt helpless and unable to stop the series of unfortunate events that were happening to them, such as beatings, lynchings, and a lack of access to education and employment opportunities.... ...
Truly hiding the pain of how they felt. Using the word “we” is the colored people society. Not just one person like it is in society today where it’s an individual person and not just a general race. Acting up in way could cause tension to the blacks and whites. Where such as the KKK or a gang of white people harass and individual black or multiple. Using a kind of language or tone in general could easily be the reason why these problems are caused so instead of revealing their pain and agony, they wore a “mask” where they lie about how they really
...one existing trapped within the view of hegemonic society; angry, but powerless so long as he remains in this state. Yet Sanchez provides a succinct plan for Black Americans in their quest to ascend the Veil: to exist as both African and American while feeding white America a pacifying view of a half truth-destruction fueled by deadly ignorance. The speakers of the poems are merely victims of the same system, seeking the same freedom. While the works of these authors differ greatly, one characteristic is common in both works: The desire for power to ascend the Veil that hangs heavily upon them like a cloak that prevents their ascension. The desire to live beyond the Veil.
Stories are often left untold or forgotten. The stories that are deemed profound or are remembered are of fact or evident to the masses. The stories that make up history, such as the African Americans’ fight for equality, are made up of concrete events that were witnessed. On the contrary, stories like the narrator’s in Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man are generally overlooked because they are focused on an individual’s experience. This is due to the theory that humanity is naturally self-involved, but also ashamed because the majority of our experiences consist of challenges. The narrator’s story was filled with past humiliations that were the major cornerstones to his identity. He illustrated the significance of embracing our humiliations, or
In the poem “Strange Fruit” the author uses many deadly situations to explain the severe pain these human beings were experiencing. “Here is the fruit for the crows to pluck” (Allan 9) is a symbol of even after death African-Americans were still experiencing pain. After one passes away they usually go to peace and God, but these people were left there on the trees lynched for animals like crows to eat them away because no one cared about them. Crows are a symbol of death because they eat rotten, dead, and leftover animals and flesh. Crows can also be symbolic to the Jim Crow Laws that were racial segregation laws targeting a particular race and culture of people. Another symbolic example is “Then the sudden smell of burning flesh” (Allan 8). This quote is so graphic and distasteful to hear people were on purposely being burned to death in gas chambers and in fires. This symbolizes so many different aspects like inhumanity, pain, violence, torment, and misery. Everyone has the right to live and they were killed with no real cause. Similarly, in “We Wear the Mask” the phrase “We wear the mask the grins and lies” (Dunbar 1) embodies the tragic and excruciating truth being covered up with a fake lie. In the mid 1960’s particular people were not allowed to voice or show their emotions, feelings, or ideas because they would be murdered. The mask was used to cover up the painful truth with a happy, positive
Dunbar, Paul Laurence. “We Wear the Mask” Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 4th Ed. University of Southern California, 2012: 527. Print.
In life, individuals are put through various difficult and stressful situations. To escape these situations, one might have resorted to using deceptive and deceitful behavior which ultimately led to betrayal. In the words of Paul Laurence Dunbar, author of the poem “We Wear the Mask,” “We wear the mask that grins and lies, / … This debt we pay to human guile;” (1:1-3:534). This means that one might hide their true emotions to disguise what they felt. In the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the narrator throughout the story always hid what she was truly feeling from John, her husband, and sister-in-law Jennie. Since during that time period women were being oppressed, the narrator
In the beginning stanza, it’s all about concealment and deception that is hiding from a treacherous possible outcome. The author writes, “We wear the mask that grins and lies / It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes / This debt we pay to human guile” (Dunbar 1-3). In the first line, it implies a group that is hiding its true feelings from others by saying we. It is the face of deceitful refusal to accept the wrongs as rights to the oppressors around them. The second line it explain...