In Paul Laurence Dunbar’s‚ “We Wear the Mask”‚ Louis Armstrong’s‚ “Black and Blue”‚ and Ralph Ellison’s‚ Invisible Man‚ all three pieces share a resemblance‚ because all the poems show people being broken or sad from the inside‚ but lying and faking a smile on the outside. In “Black or Blue”‚ Armstrong sings‚ “I’m hurt inside‚ but that don’t help my case” (Armstrong 12). Invisible‚ who is the protagonist in Invisible Man‚ doesn’t follow the “rule” until the book is nearing the end. People prefer
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Dunbar’s We Wear the Mask addresses the faults of humanity and the intersectional themes of race‚ society and class within the poem. The “mask” within this piece is symbolic of the ways in which society structures and organizes individuals to conform to societal standards. To support this theory - Dunbar uses the American Dream and slavery to remind his readers “we” wore the mask back then and “we” still wear the mask to this day. The immediate action of wearing a mask signifies suppression of
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keeping a sweet simple face to hide the truth. The poem‚ “We Wear the Mask” describes hardships blacks went through in America and how the blacks hide their sadness‚ grief‚ and sorrow behind a mask to survive and live from the whites. Confederate states in the south tried to keep slavery in order to keep the whites a superior and smarter race. Slaves lived a harsh life of work‚ and chores all day as somewhat expressed in “We Wear the Mask.” Many slaves believed in god or were religious in some aspect
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A note from Vivian A note from Vivian My love for poetry began when I was in the seventh grade. My teacher Mr. Madura‚ read a poem entitled "Life"‚ by Paul Laurence Dunbar. The poem’s title caught my attention‚ so I listened intently‚ as he read the poem and I was somewhat perplex with the story. I said to myself‚ could life really be like this‚ " A crust of bread‚ a corner to sleep in‚ a minute to smile and an hour to weep in‚ a pint of joy‚ to a peck of trouble and never a laugh‚ but the
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Alejandra Huezo 3-22-13 2B Behind “Sympathy” By Paul Laurence Dunbar In the 1890s Paul Laurence Dunbar composed a literary work named “Sympathy” where the speaker’s attention is on a cage bird. This poem perhaps was the result of Dunbar’s after high school experience operating an elevator cage. That was the only job he could find because he was denied positions in business and journalism because of his race (African-American). And by this literary work it can be inferred that he felt trapped
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“The Colored Soliders” by Paul Laurence Dunbar describes the period of the American Civil War of (1861-1865) which was a war where only the ‘whites’ were considered competent and worthy enough to fight. “These battles are the white man’s‚ and the whites will fight them out” (Dunbar‚ 11‚ 12). In the poem‚ Dunbar states that the blacks were only deemed worthy to fight when the ‘white’s’ discovered they could not win the war. ‘The Colored Soldiers’‚ written by Paul Laurence Dunbar is a reflection of society
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Amber Davis Professor Quirk Literature 101 February 28‚ 2013 We Wear the Mask The lyric poem “We wear the mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar is a poem about the African American race‚ and how they had to conceal their unhappiness and anger from whites. This poem was written in 1895‚ which is around the era when slavery was abolished. Dunbar‚ living in this time period‚ was able to experience the gruesome effects of racism‚ hatred and prejudice against blacks at its worst. Using literary techniques
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Paul Laurence Dunbar was an African American poet of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who lived through slavery‚ racism and segregation. So this poem is considered to be an extended metaphor where through out the entire poem Dunbar is comparing himself and all African Americans at that time with a caged bird that does not have the freedom to enjoy the nature and does not have the freedom to fly like all other birds meaning white people at that time. The poet starts the poem with a sentence
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people wear a mask then they can fool the world but they usually can’t fool themselves and their heart. That is because it is hard to lie to themselves and the world at the same time. In Paul Laurence Dunbar’s Poem of "We Wear the Mask‚" Dunbar uses theme is this poem to show how people hide themselves from the world and why people‚ like the women and the African Americans‚ wear their masks of theirs throughout the years. In the poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar‚ "We Wear the Mask"‚ Dunbar has written
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After reading Dunbar’s poem‚ “We Wear the Mask‚” I feel the poem was meant for an educated audience since the dialect was written in Standard English. In the first line‚ “We wear the mask that grins and lies‚” the African American people are telling their side of the story through this poem. How they truly feel is contrary to their smiles‚ although‚ they suppose that things should not be any different. The author is trying to show the audience that many African-Americans are putting on a front for
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