Laurence Dunbar We Wear The Mask Analysis

In his poem We Wear the Mask, Laurence Dunbar speaks rather elusively on the topic of human deceit. More specifically, the underlying message of the human tendency to hide emotions in suffering, reveals itself in the 15 line poem. Explored in the first two lines of the poem, Dunbar speaks about a figurative mask; a mask covering the face, hiding cheeks and eyes, with the mask taking over with its fake happiness, all a subdued lie. Continuing through the poem, the second stanza expresses grief through the world’s ignorance; while the world (people) know about humans putting on this figurative mask, all are still judged by how they wear this mask. The final stanza, the longest, is the one seeming like a cry for help, with allusions to the Bible, and a plea to Jesus Christ himself. While the stanza ends with the idea …show more content…
Specifically, in the last line of the second stanza, the persona states “We wear the mask,” and again repeats the statement as the last line of the poem, and in doing such, places a strong emphasis on the meaning of the phrase. Looking at the phrase, it noticeable how the phrase always comes after a line speaking about the world’s ignorance (except line one). “Nay, let them only see us, while…” (8) as well as “But let the world dream otherwise,” (14), both are lines which imply people overlooking the idea of everyone wearing a mask to hide their emotions, and thus all suffer in silence. As a result, when using “We wear the mask” immediately after it invokes the sense of hopelessly carrying on wearing this mask as society (and possibly African Americans) suffers. In addition through the use of “we” it places the reader into the poem, thus giving the sense that all, everyone wear a figurative mask and none are excluded. This such repetition is key in establishing the fact of the mask being figuratively existent, in the ignorance of modern