We Wear the Mask “We Wear the Mask” is a short poem written by Paul Laurence Dunbar in 1895. It is written in iambic tetrameter and has many symbols throughout its stanzas. These symbols show the struggle that black Americans have to live with in society, and the hardships they face on a daily basis. The symbols that are portrayed throughout this poem could be identified as the mask, the smile, the word we. This paper will be discussing how the use of these symbols makes this poem a relatable piece, even in this modern day, as the struggle for black Americans to live happily continues to exist. In the first stanza, lines 1-5, the mask symbol is first mentioned. Masks are often used to hide ones face and intentions from those around them, In line one, it is the very first word leading the sentence “We wear the mask that grins and lies,” (1), this line also contains two other possible symbols of the mask and smiling, making it a rather important introduction. The usage of we in the opening stanza could be a method by the speaker to include the reader in the general aspect of “we”, but it is more likely referring to the black community as a whole while they suffer from racism and degradation in America. In line 3, it reads “this debt we pay to human guile” (3), leads the reader to believe that the speaker is trying to include them into the struggle of wearing a mask of lies by sharing the experience of “human guile” (3) and how we pay a debt back to society. However, the debt of a black American was likely a lot more severe than that of a white American, especially in the year of 1895 when this poem was published. In line 4, we is mentioned once again, saying “With torn and bleeding hearts we smile” (4), which is a bit more specific usage of the word we. Here, the reader is likely able to relate the usage of this we to the we of black Americans, as many black Americans were left torn and bleeding with their hearts and desires destroyed. The fact that the wounds are still bleeding might hint at the possibility that the wounds are still rather fresh, and with the poem taking place before the 1900’s, the reader is able to conclude that these wounds are indeed fresh, as the lives of slaves and ownership had only just begun to die down. In line 9, “We wear the mask,” (9), is repeated once again, and then again in line 15. This line contains the other symbol, the mask, and is a crucial line to the poem. In line 10, the poem reads, “We smile, but O great Christ, our cries,” (10). In this line, much like the usage of word sing, the word we could be used to show that we, the black society in America,
The first two lines of the poem set the mood of fear and gloom which is constant throughout the remainder of the poem. The word choice of "black" to describe the speaker's face can convey several messages (502). The most obvious meaning ...
The veil mentioned in the book serves as a dark shadow which represents being shut out of the world, it also serves as a mask concealing contempt. It was within this veil that Blacks experienced oppression “Then it dawned upon me with a certain sadness that I was different from the others; …shut out from the world by a vast veil. I had no desire to tear down that veil, to creep through; I held all beyond it” (2) In the first essay Dubois describes his realization of the veil, in this he realized the troubles he would face because of his skin color. He noticed that those who were unveiled lived lives with “dazzling opportunities” which he longed to have.
The inconsistent American view of integrity exposed in “We Wear the Mask” Paul Laurence Dunbar and “Theme for English B” Langston Hughes acknowledges the struggle between how society views African Americans and how the community views itself. Circumstances were difficult in America amongst the end of the 19th and beginning of 20th century. An immense amount of changes were happening, and numerous people had a troublesome time dealing with them. African Americans specifically got in a culture that showed up to more superior to anything it had been before and surrounded by the Civil War. The truth was, things simply weren 't so divine. African-American of this time period are prime cases
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.
"Footnote1 The veil is a metaphor for the separation and invisibility of black life and existence in America and is a reoccurring theme in books abo ut black life in America. Du Bois's veil metaphor, "In those somber forests of his striving his own soul rose before him, and he saw himself, -darkly as though through a veil"Footnote2, is a allusion to Saint Paul's line in Isiah 25:7, "For now we see through a glass, darkly. "Footnote3 Saint Paul's use of the veil in Isiah and later in Second Corinthians is similar to Du Bois's use of the metaphor of the veil.
While exploring an unknown island and struggling to survive, a group of schoolboys reveal their primitive, barbarous identities in William Golding’s work, Lord of the Flies. Similarly, Paul Laurence Dunbar, an African American poet, describes the hidden nature of individuals in order to protect themselves and conceal their pain. Golding’s novel and Dunbar’s poem, “We Wear the Mask,” both express masks as means of escaping reality and a source of strength; however, the pressures of society suppress the characters in Dunbar’s poem while the boys in Lord of the Flies unleash true feelings through their innate savageness.
George Orwell quote, “He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it.” The documentary, “The Mask You Live In”, directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom shows different ages of males who struggle to be themselves while battling America’s limited meaning of manliness. George Orwell quote, “He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it.” Influenced by the media, among their age group, and the grown-ups in their lives, adolescents dissociate their emotions, disrespect women, and is aggressive. Society gender stereotypes affect young males to change to fit into the societal norm as they characterize “real” men.
In the story "Battle Royal" the narrator's grandfather tells the family to undermind the whites with "yeses" and "grins", he also instructs them to "agree'em to death and destruction". The grandfather felt that in order to keep the family safe and also hold on to the oppression that scars them everyday, they should put on a mask. This will keep the white man pleased and the blacks could keep there self respect because as soon as the opportunity for social equality comes they'll go for it. This didn't seem like a bad idea but it was hard for the narrator to comprehend.
Here he has used the word “we” representing his race and “theirs” as representing the whites. Furthermore he uses the words like “dirt”, “thorn”, ”shadows” to convey the darkness surrounding them. Poet states in the
“Be a man”, is on of the most destructive phrases to tell boys and men. The Mask You Live In explains the struggles boys and men have growing up in a patriarchal society. I chose to watch this to understand how men feel oppressed. All year, I became aware of females and their struggles in the patriarchy. It is interesting to see that men are affected too. The documentary should have had more personal stories because it allows the audience to connect with and have empathy for men. On the other hand, the movie thoroughly demonstrated the inner conflict boys and men face in society. Men feel they must be strong and dominate. They feel they need to hide emotion and empathy in order to fit in. They must be manly in order to
Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask” is a lyric poem in which the point of attraction, the mask, represents the oppression and sadness held by African Americans in the late 19th century, around the time of slavery. As the poem progresses, Dunbar reveals the façade of the mask, portrayed in the third stanza where the speaker states, “But let the dream be otherwise” (13). The unreal character of the mask has played a significant role in the lives of African Americans, who pretend to put on a smile when they feel sad internally. This occasion, according to Dunbar, is the “debt we pay to human guile," meaning that their sadness is related to them deceiving others. Unlike his other poems, with its prevalent use of black dialect, Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask” acts as “an apologia (or justification) for the minstrel quality of some of his dialect poems” (Desmet, Hart, and Miller 466).
... collective consciousness of the Black community in the nineteen hundreds were seen throughout the veil a physical and psychological and division of race. The veil is not seen as a simple cloth to Du Bois but instead a prison which prevents the blacks from improving, or gain equality or education and makes them see themselves as the negative biases through the eyes of the whites which helps us see the sacred as evil. The veil is also seen as a blindfold and a trap on the many thousands which live with the veil hiding their true identity, segregated from the whites and confused themselves in biases of themselves. Du Bois’s Souls of Black Folks had helped to life off the veil and show the true paid and sorry which the people of the South had witnessed. Du Bois inclines the people not to live behind the veil but to live above it to better themselves as well as others.
“We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar and “Richard Cory” by Edwin Arlington Robinson are two poems that depict how many people hide their feelings from others. The two poems are similar in theme, but are told from different points of view and differ in plot.
For many years, African Americans were forced to live without a voice and many accepted the fact that they were seen as inferior to the white race. Although they were excluded from being a part of society, built up emotions constructed beautiful pieces of poetry that have become important aspects of today’s literature. Langston Hughes’, “ I Too, Sing America” and Claude Mckay’s, “The White House” will be looked at closely to determine how each poem portrays emotional discontent and conflicted emotional states.
Have you ever worn a mask before? Maybe the mask wasn't a costume mask, but it was a mask to make you seem happy, or seem cool, or anything that made you feel like something than you are not normally. Chances are you have. Trying to fit in with the crowd, a mask is used to obtain the things we cannot reach on our own. Masks are especially common today because of the pressures to belong to the 'in'; group, or the pressures to succeed. Books, using masks, commonly show the many connotations of masks. They are used to find out what people are for real, on the inside of the mask. The imagery of masks is used throughout the book of Twelfth Night. Shakespeare uses the imagery of masks to reveal characters true emotions and to express the power of raw beauty. Shakespeare uses this imagery through all of his characters in the play, but especially the two characters of Viola and Feste.