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Paul Laurence Dunbar We Wear Mask

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What does it mean to be a poet? Who is considered to be a good poet? There is only one answer to the questions, and the answer is that poet who can bring emotions through their work are considered a very good poet. Paul Laurence Dunbar is the best African- American poet of the 19th century and early 20th century. His work leaves behind a legacy. Especially the poem “We Wear Mask”. The poem strongly conveys the struggle, the inner experience, and the humiliation of the African- American community. Fighting against stereotypes. People fighting for equality has been coming generation after generation. “We wear the mask” strongly emphasizes the struggle of the people. In the 17th and 18th century slavery was a big part of the culture. The culture …show more content…

Our inner experience is the most valuable things. Through this poem, Paul Laurence Dunbar enhances the inner experience of the African- American and just what they felt inside and he compares it to what they presented outside to others and for slaves to their owners. In other words, “We wear the mask” has some of the real horrifying truths about the era. For example, Dunbar states in his poem that “We wear the mask that grins and lies, it hides our cheeks and shades our eyes. . .” (1-2). He is portraying African- American as the victim of the people with power. “We wear the mask that grins and lies…” (1), is the symbol of their inner experience, the truth that is hidden within them. Because I believe that not having the freedom to express our feeling, just makes us feel as if we are not a human being. For me, this poem is explained all the suffering slaves had to go through and the feeling of heartbroken. It simplifies the whole meaning of being free but living in a societal prison. What I mean by that is that, in this poem, Dunbar does express to us as the reader that sometimes what behaves might not be their correct representation, sometimes they are hiding many burdens within them but does not have the courage to speak to people about them. The culture of slavery is abolished but still, they have to prove themselves. “We wear the mask” can not only be related to African- American community only, because nowadays our society has made all these stereotypes that people are being forced to go along with

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So the mask is the main part of each of the text the poem and the song. The mask consists with the hidden of the individual's identities. In the song states “ kids doing the boogie Woogie wear the mask”, and “My crew in the jersey wear the mask”. In the poem, it states ‘We wear the mask that grins and lies…” meaning these individuals are living a false

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851 Words | 4 Pages

“We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes-.” This quote is from the poem, “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar which is a poem about the struggle that Paul Laurence Dunbar’s family went through during their lives being enslaved. This quote represents the role that a mask can play in covering up true self. By wearing a mask, a person is covering up their unique features. Also, they are not letting anyone get to know them as well as hiding their persona from the public.

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As I read, Paul L. Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask” I was interested in how he described what a mask represents. It is true that a mask was used to hide a person’s pain, emotion, or mood before the day known as Halloween developed. I love how Paul refers the use of the masks as a black or white person’s escape from other peoples’ worried faces. No one can ever understand what someone else is going through. People can never truly speak their truth or let out their suffering.

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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.

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802 Words | 4 Pages

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

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1218 Words | 5 Pages

In Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem, “We Wear the Mask” the speaker wears a mask to hide his internal suffering because he does not want the rest of the world to think he is weak. This poem relates the prejudice black people face against white people. The speaker starts the poem with the lines, “We wear the mask that grins and lies,” (1). Here he describes the kind of “masks” that he wears.

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In the poem it says, “we wear the mask that grins and lies, it hides our cheeks and shades our eyes.” This shows that people hide themselves so people can’t see who they truly are and so they can fit in with non-black people. Black people we’re probably scared that white people will judge them and do something bad to them for not being the same color as them. They were afraid of being judged, to being mistreated by them. This is why they decided to hide their true

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840 Words | 4 Pages

To begin, I chose the poem “We Wear Mask '' written by Paul Laurence Dunbar to represent how collaboration and community bring out the best in people. First The poem shows how the Black community tries to wear mask because they scared to show their identity. They were scared to show them there true self because they knew the white community wouldn’t respect them because of there color. Not only that they knew that the white community didn’t respect them for who they are

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Masks hide the truth and obscure the facts. They form a barrier between what is real and what is an illusion. Yet, during from the moment blacks were brought to this continent in chains, to the moment they were granted civil rights in the 1960’s, masks were a method of survival. Another way of life for African Americans was the practice of signifying. Signifying is mostly seen in the black literary tradition as a means for African Americans to take back power from the white through misinformation and deception.

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“When Malindy Sings” and “We Wear the Mask” are two popular poems written by Dunbar. Each touch on difficulties he and other African Americans face every day. However, “When Malindy Sings” is written in dialect, while “We Wear the Mask” is not. When looking at each poem, “We Wear the Mask” has to hide the true meaning of the poem beneath beautiful word play and descriptive word play. This important to note because only the African American community would understand the true underlying message of false contentment.

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Racism had an impact on society and the poems “We Wear The Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar and “I, Too” by Langston Hughes both showed that through there theme on how racism had an impact on people and showed the tone of frustration in their writing, both of these poems also show us how people were deceived into thinking something wrong is right. The common themes and tone shown in both of these poems can help us have a better understanding of what these poems are trying to show or tell us. Beginning with the poem “We Wear The Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar, this author presents the theme of the impact racism had on people and shows the tone of frustration. For example the author states in line 3 “This debt we pay to human guile”

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I strongly agree with the statement ‘Of Mice and Men is Steinbeck's protest against the unfairness of American society in the 1930s.’ because throughout the novel Steinbeck shows a variety of examples of the discrimination people in 1930s America would face. He also shows us that there was a lack of hope and humanity around this time. A key character in Of Mice and Men who shows how people were treated is Curley's wife. The use of the possessive apostrophe in her title, "Curley's wife”, leads to us being able to infer that she is seen as an object and treated as though she was Curley’s possession.

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681 Words | 3 Pages

The poem I chose to analyze is We Wear the Mask, written by Paul Lawrence Dunbar in 1896. Its theme is about hiding our true feelings and emotions, and lying about who we are. When looking at Dunbar’s life history, and the political context at the time, we understand that he efficiently uses this theme in order to talk about how black people have to hide how they feel about their social status and the treatment they receive from white people. He conveys the theme to the audience thanks to a clever word choice. Indeed, he talks about “grin” and “smile”, using facial expressions as a description of the mask (Dunbar, lines 1 & 4).

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A lot of times it is hard for me to have discernment in what a poem is trying to say. I often find poems with elaborate word choices and word orders to be confusing. I have to break down line by line in order to connect my understanding and perception with the true meaning behind the written word. In Paul Laurence Dunbar's " We Wear the Mask," I find discernment easy.

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The main theme of the poem is centered on the masks that we wear in society, but the poem digs deeper than the simple statement, ‘we all wear masks’. Teasdale presents the insight that when we are walking on the sidewalk, surrounded by the chaos of the streets, we delve into our own thoughts and the mask lifts. Because we are among strangers rather than coworkers, family, or peers, we do

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