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What Does We Wear The Mask Mean

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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. The subject of people hiding how they truly feel creates a different perspective on what feelings they show. I also enjoyed how the author uses the second paragraph to create a bit more generality in that sadness isn’t the only emotion that can be hidden. He says, “Why should the world be over-wise” (Dunbar, line 6). Dunbar infers that you shouldn’t be an open book, hiding only feelings of sadness, but that the world doesn’t deserve to know all your hidden feelings. …show more content…

Not having a person to trust with your negative emotions takes a toll on you. “Nay, let them only see us, while We wear the mask” (Dunbar, lines 8-9) conveys how you shouldn’t really trust anyone. Furthermore, the title is enigmatic because of the word “We.” By saying, We Wear the Mask, it implies that the feeling of sadness isn’t completely hidden, but rather they’re in a group and know who else is covering a feeling of sadness. Dunbar seems to focus so much on hiding his feelings, but may have a group that shares what they hide

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