Maximilian J. Martin Professor Finger ENGL 201B 29 March 2023 The Making of the Mask In psychology ‘masking’ is the act of protecting oneself from social rejection. This goal is achieved through meticulous displays of etiquette, social capitulation, and imitation. Author Paul Lawrence Dunbar represents this continuous act of concealment as a literal mask in his 1895 poem “We Wear the Mask”. The poem deftly illustrates the struggles and triumphs of African-Americans who’ve been forced to “..wear the mask” (1) in response to oppression across history. The oppression of Africans and African-Americans is rooted in 19th century assumptions about race, economy, and social hierarchy. Chattel slavery, a system of violence based on the presumed inferiority …show more content…
In response to this definition, slaves began to create a mask for themselves based on white views of black people. Slaves played dumb, acting stupid and obedient around whites in order to avoid violence and limit suspicion. Slaves would break tools, maim animals, poison food, feign illness, work slowly, then cover their actions by playing the fool. This kind of day-to-day resistance took precedence over escape, as escaping meant risking violence to oneself and one's family. However, even those lucky enough to escape were still subject to a colossal racial hierarchy which dictated that blacks act in a completely subservient manner. In the eyes of white people, to be black was to be inferior and unworthy of anything but servitude. Backing up this claim was the United States government, ruling in 1857 that... [...African-Americans] had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect; and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit. He was bought and sold, and …show more content…
Though the Union ended the war victorious and in doing so ended slavery, the consequences of the south’s “peculiar institution” would last for hundreds of years yet; as Dunbar states “[...]oh the clay is vile beneath our feet, and long the mile” (12). Despite this, African-Americans unanimously celebrated their newfound freedom. Following the Civil War, the 14th Amendment nullified the Dred-Scott decision in 1868 as part of Reconstruction (1865-1877), a temporary major step forward in African-Americans’ pursuit of equality. During Reconstruction, African-Americans enjoyed a brief period of increased political rights, legal treatment, and highly situational freedom from white control. Being able to vote freely, black majorities naturally elected Republican (re: anti-slavery) leaders. In response, white Southerners formed groups like the Ku Klux Klan, the Knights of the White Camellia, the White Brotherhood, and the Whitecaps. These terrorist organizations resorted to intimidation, beatings, rape, and murder to return control of the South to conservative white Democrats (re: pro-slavery). This “redemption” of the South was indisputably successful, leading to a massive backslide of civil rights starting in 1877. In the following decades conservative white Democrats stripped away the political rights of African-Americans through disenfranchisement. In the absence of
Paul Laurence Dunbar's poem, "We Wear the Mask," delivers a poignant message in fifteen brief lines. On one hand, the poem pays tribute to the historical struggles of African-Americans. Specifically, Dunbar explores the thought that many African-Americans disguised their true feelings during the racially tumultuous period between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. His moving words suggest that the African-American community of this time often wore "the mask that grins and lies" to avoid drawing unwanted attention to themselves.
Such personification mirrors Dunbar’s use of figurative language, which relates the poems in more ways than one. Dunbar touches on human features such as cheeks and eyes in his poem but also uses a spiritual element to advance his point of view. Furthermore, “We Wear the Mask” was written in 1896; a period in American history that was post-slavery but still had widespread discrimination. The spiritual connotation within Dunbar’s poem can allude to African American churches and/or the hymns slaves sung on plantations. Nevertheless, the struggle of African Americans is a symbol of both presented
Nhat Nguyen Professor Carter ENGWR 302 11/08/2016 Extra Credit The Mask You Live In I have seen “The Mask You Live
This common theme is very apparent but it is even more so in “We Wear the Mask” when Dunbar writes, “We wear the mask that grins and lies, it hides our cheeks and shades our eyes” (Dunbar 1-2).
Trinity Cooper Robin Gore English III 27 April 2023 Racism is a type of evil Racism is a sort of evil that has affected societies for ages and continues to do so now. Racism appears in several ways, including prejudice, discrimination, and hate crimes. The Stories We Wear a Mask and From My Bondage and My Freedom shows how racism not only affects African Americans it also affects others. In the poem “We Wear a Mask” Paul Dunbar uses symbolism, and hyperboles to express his message.
Poetry has always been used to express one’s emotions and thoughts about the world. Emotions and desperation are the main vocal points of the poem, “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar. The poem, “We Wear the Mask” by Dunbar was written in the 19th century during a time when many African Americans were oppressed in the United States due to segregation laws but this did not halt Dunbar from gaining recognition from the poem while shedding light on the struggles of African Americans’ emotions. In, “We Wear the Mask” Paul Dunbar uses repetition, punctuation, rhyming scheme, enjambed lines, and end-stopped lines to indicate that people repress their emotions deep down, never expressing them leading them to crack under the pressure of society.
Frederickson argues African Americans simply did not have the time or preparation to oppose racist forces. Using paramilitary forces, southern redeemers easily made threats to reconstruction forces as seen through the emergence of the violent Ku Klux Klan during the election of 1866. The opportunity for African Americans to gain a stance in society was short lived by the racist efforts of democrats in the south and impartial ideals from
Paul Lawrence Dunbar used a mask as an analogy to show how people hide their problems and negative emotions. Specifically, line four shows how the mask is used to cover up pain and suffering by using the words “torn and bleeding hearts”(Dunbar line 4). In these four lines, Dunbar conveyed the message that people try to cover up the negativity going on in their life and hide it under a mask. This concept of identity illustrated by Dunbar shows how people want to be defined by others.
We Wear the Mask: Paul Laurence Dunbar Rating: ★★★★ Dunbar opens his poem by stating how he and others wear masks that “grins and lies.” They hide what they truly feel under a mask of smiles. He conveys how they hide their sorrows from the world and that they do not deserve to know their true feelings. He continues expressing this feeling of sadness and torture that is covered and hidden from the world by faking a sense of joy through singing, smiles, and lies. To start off, I really liked how the author picked a subject that can be relatable in many people’s lives.
In “We Wear the Mask,” Paul Laurence Dunbar uses the image of a mask to describe the way outward appearances can give false impressions of a person. In the first line, he describes the titular
In his poem “We Wear the Mask,” Paul Laurence Dunbar describes societal pressures, uses extended metaphors, and conveys the speakers troubles through various rhetorical devices like rhyme structure, enjambment and censura in order to showcase that although people may put on a happy face, a majority of them are struggling under a mask of lies and deceit, ultimately illustrating that although people may look content, it’s a façade created in order to please society. To begin, the title “We Wear the Mask” is really an extended metaphor as well as a central theme in the poem. The speaker, Dunbar, explains what the mask is in the first stanza. He explains that it’s a tool meant for fooling others, “We wear the mask that grins and lies, / It hides
Throughout the poem, We Wear The Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar, Dunbar shows to the readers that the character is struggling with their identity, this struggle connects to Erik Erikson's crisis of “Identity vs Role Confusion”. In the poem, the author states “We wear the mask that grins and lies. It hides our cheeks and shades out eyes” (Dunbar, lines 1-2). This quote provided the readers with information stating that the character is covering their identity. It shows that the character is afraid of who they are and want to change their appearance.
Literary Analysis We Wear the Mask In the poem We Wear the Mask the author Paul Laurence Dunbar uses statements and lines to divulge and show the reader that the speaker has to “Wear A Mask” to cover their true self and that the speaker is having to lie and and put on a face and enclose their feelings because of their race. The speaker uses phrases such as “we wear a mask” to help contribute to the theme “Never oppress yourself because you feel cloistered”. The author uses outlying language and tone to express how the speaker feels in their environment. The Structure of this poem involves AABBC, CCDE, and AABBCE.
“We Wear the Mask” disputes this idea and presents an argument that happiness among the African American population was a façade. According to Dunbar, deep inside, African Americans have ‘torn and bleeding hearts’. The message in this poem is not direct and it is in line with the situation in the ground. When this poem was written, the fight for equal rights among African Americans had not started in earnest.
This conveys the idea of not showing anyone how the person truly feels, and instead showing only the emotions on the mask. In the last lines of the poem, Dunbar writes, “But let the world dream otherwise,/We wear the mask!” (Dunbar 654). These lines emphasize the idea that the world only knows of the emotions on the mask and that the world is oblivious to how the person actually feels behind the mask. Dunbar’s use of metaphors throughout the poem helps emphasize the idea of people hiding their