We Wear The Mask Literary Techniques

Christopher Gore

Mrs. Gore

English III

XX April 2023
Realism Paper

Often in life, people find themselves unable to express their true emotions or feelings. The idea behind the hiding of true emotions or feelings has been one of the most talked about topics since early American literature. Although there are many different pieces of literature that express this idea, there are two that display this efficiently. The first is the poem, “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar, which uses the literary device of metaphors to convey its message. The second is the short story, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, which uses the literary device of irony to convey its message. Although both are very different pieces of literature covering many

This metaphor displays the idea of people wearing masks that have emotions of their own. These emotions that the mask displays are different from the emotions that the person is actually feeling. Although the poem was originally written about African Americans hiding their true feelings, this quote can apply to anyone. Later in the poem, in the eighth and ninth lines, Dunbar writes, “Nay, let them only see us, while/We wear the mask” (Dunbar 654). These lines express how the outside world should only see the person while they wear the mask. 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

This is shown multiple times throughout the story as Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s death is different than that of what society would consider normal. This is first shown in the second paragraph which reads, “She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms” (Chopin 644). This instance of irony is the first hint towards the idea that Mrs. Mallard doesn’t react in a way that people normally do in society. Later in the story, it’s shown that previously Mrs. Mallard wished for death to set her free from her husband. However, because of her husband’s death, she now wishes to live a long life. This is shown in the quote, “Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long” (Chopin 646). A final and more obvious use of irony is at the end of the story, in which Mrs. Mallard discovers that her husband isn’t actually dead. Due to her heart troubles, mentioned at the beginning of the story, the shock of this causes her to die. In the following quote, it is revealed that the characters believe she died from a shock of joy,