People wear masks to temporarily protect themselves until they feel comfortable letting the world see their vulnerabilities. In the short story “The Leaving” Elizabeth; a mother of four wears a mask to cope with being treated poorly. Whereas, in the short story “Paradise café” Graham Sanderson wears a mask to appear like he is Lulie’s equal. Elizabeth is a mother of four and a woman who is mainly mistreated by her husband but also by her four sons. While, Graham is an impoverished teen who loves a wealthy and naive girl named Lulie. Both Elizabeth and Graham wear masks to cope with their surroundings.
Elizabeth wears a mask to be able to cope with being treated poorly by the males in her household. “She…shut[s] herself off from her surroundings” because of the mental and sometimes
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He says that “he [isn’t] hungry or thirsty” but orders for Lulie. This is an excellent example of Graham wearing a mask to appear and feel worthy of Lulie. Graham is pretending that he could order for himself but that he doesn't want to, however, in reality he can only afford to buy for one person. He is sacrificing his needs for her own. This shows that he feels that he isn’t worthy of Lulie because he is poor and she is wealthy. Graham has various ways of covering up that he is poor. He tells Lulie that he wears the same sweater because it “[brings] him good luck”. This is stated to make sure that Lulie doesn’t suspect that he only has one sweater because he is poor. Graham is desperately trying to hide is lack of wealth so that he can continue feeling good about dating Lulie. He drives to Lulie’s house to break up with her but is so ashamed of himself so he can’t bring himself to break up with her. He was in love with her but had to stop seeing her because he had lost the use of his grandfather’s truck. “[Graham] was cold and closed off” at Lulie’s because he still wore his mask and tried to appear as Lulie’s