Racial Prejudice In Nay's Poem

The Author of the poem experience a racial prejudice which he explicitly addresses. He reflects how life was under the circumstances he was in. The speaker is excluded from the mainstream and dominant American society because of the color of his skin. He responded to the experience of exclusion by wearing what he called a mask. The advantage with his response by hiding his pain from society could end up disadvantaged by losing his true self.

He feels excluded from society at large because of his race, moreover discrimination for being black affect him and his community's in general. The prejudice he faces on a daily basis, isolates the group of people his part of. The poem starts by saying, “We wear the mask grins and lies, its hides our cheeks and shades of our eyes,” the false smile is to hide his genuine emotion from others. In the third section he continues “With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, and mouth with myriad subtleties.”. His implies that despite the struggle he still appears pleasant and happy. The price he pays to survive in the society that placed him behind that mask. …show more content…
The facade that makes him display different personality to shield his distress and not to be amusement for those who like to see him suffer. “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.” He says people outside of his community lack of ability to recognize the struggle he's going through, which is so obvious and situate him in a vulnerable condition, and yet he doesn’t want them to see him without the mask that he deem