Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)
We Wear the Mask
We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.
Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.
We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!
OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS
The poem “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar is a lyric poem. Its theme centers in Pretention as what the title suggested. The whole story behind has been revealed by oppressed black Americans. The tone of the poem expresses an overwhelming suffering as they were compelled to hide their pain and frustration behind the façade of happiness and contentment.
In creating the tone, the poet chose to use many verbs to emphasize action, as in the following lines:
We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
The Essay on Lord Of The Flies THE MASK
Jack’s behavior goes through a moral and social transformation when he paints his face. Jack paints his face red, black, and white before he goes hunting. He now looks scary to the other kids. “Beside the pool his sinewy body held up a mask that drew their eyes and appalled them.” Jack’s physical transformation is clearly seen but he also has an internal transformation. He ...
This debt we pay to human guile;
The poet also uses rhyming words in every end of the lines that echoes the complex emotions of the persona of the poem. The frequent use of commas contributes to the slow movement and heavy plea of the persona in the third stanza:
We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!
In addition, the poem is composed of cinquains, quatrains and sestets and has a perfect masculine rhyme. It has different rhyme scenes in every stanza:
We wear the mask that grins and lies, a
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,— a
This debt we pay to human guile; b
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, b
And mouth with myriad subtleties. a
Why should the world be over-wise, a
In counting all our tears and sighs? a
Nay, let them only see us, while a
We wear the mask. c
We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries a
To thee from tortured souls arise. a
We sing, but oh the clay is vile b
Beneath our feet, and long the mile; b
But let the world dream otherwise, a
We wear the mask! c
MIMETIC ANALYSIS
The poem tells about the “mask” which figuratively represents the “pretention” of the black Americans. The “mask” helps the blacks to show happiness and contentment in the midst of torment as expressed in the first stanza:
We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.
The “mask” keeps them to habitually conceal their anguish and anger from whites, as well as from one another as revealed in the second stanza:
Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.
The Essay on Black Poems
In the past during apartheid being black meant you lost out in many privileges it also showed how black people where oppressed. In this poem we see that Mbongeni Khumalo uses the word black in connection to all the bad things. He highlights that there is this darkness associated with the colour black and that in the 1960’s when someone called you a black person it showed nothing good and that no ...
And since wearing the “mask” hurts them, they ask to have peace from Christ and hope t have a brighter future as expressed in the third stanza:
We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!
EXPRESSIVE ANALYSIS
Paul Laurence Dunbar is an African- American poet of the late 19th and 20th century. He is born in Dayton, Ohio to parents who had escaped from slavery in Kentucky. No wonder that the content of his poem, “We Wear the Mask” significantly talks about the experiences of the blacks as slaves. This poem also serves as his commentary toward the complicated situation of the blacks in the society. In his poem, he describes the harsh reality of the black race in America and how they hide their grief, sadness, and broken hearts under a mask for a survival strategy towards whites. For instance, the “We” of the poem describes the black society that lives a double life, the masked and the unmasked. Dunbar also included the word “mask” in his poem because historically it stands for the concealed acute distress and pain on the part of the blacks. The poet cited that masks when worn is always smiling but underneath are the torn and broken heart of one’s soul and the black community is paying this debt dearly by wearing it every day. It is emphasized in these following lines:
We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,–
This debt we pay to human guile;
Dunbar distinguishes that the black people knew very well on how to deal with the situation for their sake. They knew that if they would reveal publicly their true feelings about white’s maltreatment of them, they would be condemned. In the last three lines of the second verse illustrates their hurt when they are not with the white community and how they are spell bounded under the mask. The last stanza of the poem tells they just pray to Christ to find peace amidst the trouble, that some of them may die with seeing the realization of their dreams and some of them may be able to fight for what is right.
AFFECTIVE ANALYSIS
Kevin Bales once said that “Slavery is theft — theft of a life, theft of work, theft of any property or produce, theft even of the children a slave might have borne.” This simply means that it prevents the person, who is being oppressed, to be happy and free. And even how much he tries to mask himself, he would still struggle to be equal with others. In “We Wear the Mask” it seems that Dunbar is conveying this message to his audience.
The Essay on Black People and Poem
Our ancestors that were born in the late 1950’s experienced the Brown vs. The Board of Education Supreme Court case that arose in the era of segregation amongst blacks and whites. In this era, nine African Americans attempted to make appearance at a local school in Little Rock, Arkansas to show that they were indeed equals. Gwendolyn Brook’s poem gives you an impression on what is going on in that ...
The blacks are the major example of this certain condition. For many centuries, they had been maltreated by the whites. They became slaves. They were treated with disrespect and humiliation that is why they are forced to hide their pain and frustration behind a mask. For a long time, they just followed what the whites said to make their lives easier. The whites denied them with the right to live their own lives.
In the line, “ With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, And mouth with myriad subtleties”, you really feel the acute distress and pain felt by the blacks and how they exert great effort to have happiness and contentment despite the inhuman treatment. And their only hope to be freed from this situation or to find peace is “Christ”. It is evident when Dunbar wrote the lines, “we smile, but, O great Christ, our cries”. They just put their fate to Him and are given an answer, though others are not already there to taste the comfort.
From this, we must learn not oppress other people. We must know how to respect them no matter what the color of their skin, their ideology, race, culture and traditions. We must repeat the mistakes in our history, and we give others the chance to live life to the fullest.
A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF DUNBAR’S POEM
“WE WEAR THE MASK”
_______________
Presented to:
DR. ANGEL O. PESIRLA
Cebu Normal University
Osmeña Blvd, Cebu City
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements of the Course
LITERATURE 4002
(Research in Literary Theory, Criticism and Historicism)
_______________
By
Geraldine L. Bejoc
3
Critique
A LITERARY ANALYSIS OF THE FABLE THE MONKEY AND THE CROCODILE USING AFFECTIVE THEORY
The fable “The Monkey and the Crocodile” is a popular story of Monkey and Crocodile, generosity and succeeding drifting apart because of the crocodile’s betrayal and bad intension. It is a typical tale among the Beastly Tales, specifically when it comes to its framework and narrative technique (Vikrams Seth).
The Essay on The Monkeys Paw White Door Monkey
The Monkey's Paw By (author) W. W. Jacobs The mystery of the Monkey's Paw is a cleverly thought out short story. This story had three main parts. These parts were the first wish, the second wish, and the third wish. The first wish was the only tragic wish that was granted. Mr. White, hiss on Herbert, and an old man were sitting around playing chess. There was a knock at the door and Mr. White ...
The story starts with the monkey’s little favor and how he politely approached the crocodile. It is describe in a nonpersonal manner, but it implies a certain humanistic behaviour that if you want something to get done, you must humbly ask for help from others. This part has an ironic touch because monkeys are mischievous creatures. They usually trick other creatures right away. That is why it is hard to believe that they would behave in such manner.
Then, the generous submission of the crocodile to the monkey’s request, again, it is almost like that to a human being. As well- mannered individuals it is just a natural response to a complaisant request.
However, the friendship changed to deceitfulness: first, on the part of the crocodile as he tried to put monkey’s life into an end. Second, was when the monkey pulled the wool over crocodile’s eyes to escape death. These events show a criss- cross of human behavior, trustfulness and preparedness to act in situations.
