Analysis Of The Poem We Wear The Mask By Paul Laurence...

Hiding Emotions for Survival Everybody has experienced emotions. Everyone at one point or another in life have hid from emotions; by putting on a false expression to mask the feeling of embarrassment, shame, pain or fear. Like the saying goes, â€Å"Don’t judge a book by its cover† by Bo Diddley. Don’t assume the happy, jubilant, joyous expressions that someone is expressing is real. Emotions are part of everyday life, but not everyone feels the need to express themselves honestly. In the poem â€Å"We Wear the Mask† by Paul Laurence Dunbar, the mask symbolizes the imaginary wall slaves hide behind for survival. Although, the slaves are unhappy, they feel the need to smile and act accordingly. The military teaches their men and women how to keep their emotions under control; to prepare them for combat, possible capture, or the loss of a soldier. Although hiding emotions and expressions may sound brutal, being expressionless is necessary in order to survive. In the 19th Century, men who went to war were not prepared for the horrors of death. Most went to fight for their country, however, they were not prepared for the outcome and failed to see that war brings death, injuries, and psychological upset. Many men sat down their guns and gave up; hoping for a surrender. Today the military trains their men to be mentally prepared for the upsets of war. PST or Psychological Skills Training is common in just about all military training forums. This training is to help the men andShow MoreRelated Analysis of We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar Essay1345 Words   |  6 PagesAnalysis of We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar â€Å"We Wear the Mask† by Paul Laurence Dunbar is a renowned piece of literature that has been the subject of various literary criticisms over the years. Because of the poem’s indirectness and generalized ambiguity, the interpretation of the â€Å"we† that wears the â€Å"mask† and why they do so is left unanimously undisclosed. It is up to the interpreter and the support given by the interpreter to produce a valid representation of the meaning thatRead MoreThe Language of the Black Condition and All Conditions: Paul Laurence Dunbar’s â€Å"We Wear the Mask†984 Words   |  4 PagesPaul Laurence Dunbar’s poem, â€Å"We Wear The Mask† cleverly talks of the black condition in a language so universal that it could apply to any race of people that tries to hide their emotions from the world in order to survive. Dunbar argues for the reality of the black man’s plight in America, the black mans struggle for equality in the world, and the struggle for peace within. These are circumstances of the poet’s life that influenced his writing of the poem. PARAGRAPH 2: Background informationRead MoreEssay about We Wear the Mask 1518 Words   |  7 PagesPaul Laurence Dunbar, dispatches the cold troubles of African Americans in the lyrical poem, We Wear the Mask. In this poem, Dunbar links imagery, rhythm, rhyme, and word choice to in order to institute a connection to the reader. From reading the poem, one can infer that Mr. Dunbar is speaking in general, of the misery that many people keep concealed under a grin that they wear very well. But if one were to go further and take the time to research Mr. Dunbar’s selection of this piece and the eraRead MoreShadows On The Skin : A Study Of Dually Randall And Paul Laurence Dunbar957 Words   |  4 PagesStudy of Dually Randall and Paul Laurence Dunbar Dually Randall and Paul Laurence Dunbar are two African American writers living during the early twentieth century. These men did not know each other, however, they both encountered the same hardship of being an African American living before the civil rights movement. Both men use poems that emphasize sound, structure and imagery to express what they experienced during that harsh time. A careful analysis of â€Å"We Wear the Mask† and â€Å"Ballad of Birmingham†Read MoreWe Wear The Mask By Paul Laurence Dunbar925 Words   |  4 PagesCaptivating many readers since 1895, Paul Laurence Dunbar’s spectacular poem, We Wear the Mask, contains a central valid argumentative point of which many disagree. Many critics believe that Dunbar was particularly writing to slaves or to African Americans who had experienced racism as if this race of people are the only ones who put on masks in front of others. However, Dunbar’s poems should be seen as one written for a universal audience because the poem can apply to anyone who has ever feltRead MoreI m Nobody ! Who Are You?1197 Words   |  5 Pageswhat the poet is listening and to share what the poet is going through. The two poems â€Å"I’m Nobody! Who are You?† by Emily Dickinson, and â€Å"We Wear the Mask† by Paul Laurence Dunbar are two classical works of poetry. While Dunbar shares agonizing experience of an entire community, Dickinson shares her thoughts about individual characteristic and personality; in fact, she cleverly wins the case of an introvert. Both these poems are independent of each other in terms of thought as well as from literary perspectiveRead MoreAnalysis Of Paul Laurence Dunbar s The Elevator Boy Poet 1654 Words   |  7 Pageswas born. Paul Laurence Dunbar was one of the first African American poets to gain national recognition. (poets) Dunbar graduated high school around the time where racial discrimination was at it’s all time high, so they were not many jobs for the African American race. Due to the lack of occupation Dunbar was forced to be an elevator operator in a Dayton hotel. Although the circumstances were difficult it did not stop Dunbar from succeeding. While working as an elevator operator, Dunbar was ableRead MoreMaya Angelou’s Unique Self Essay2562 Words   |  11 Pagesand answered there. Heroes and bogey men, values and dislikes, are first encountered and labeled in that early environment. In later years they change faces, places, and maybe races, tactics, intensities and goals, but beneath those penetrable masks they wear forever the stocking-capped faces of childhood (Angelou, 2009, p.20). In Maya Angelou’s autobiography, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, she recounts her early years as a young girl growing up in Stamps, Arkansas who faces displacement, trauma