We Wear The Mask Poem Analysis

“We Wear The Mask” and “Sympathy” are without a doubt two of the best written poems that a beleaguered poet, who struggled against the social norms of his time, would inevitably come up with. Though “Sympathy” and “We Wear The Mask” both speak of Dunbar’s regret for being imprisoned in his own situation, condemning the slavery of African Americans and the absence of opportunity for his own race, the two poems may also relate to how he felt confined in the literary standards of his era. Need Thesis Statement One unmistakable difference between the two poems is the metaphors, in the first poem Dubar expresses how he feels as though he is wearing a mask where as in the second poem he describes the feeling of being trapped in a cage. “We Wear The Mask” describes the feeling of having to hide who one really is and pretend to be something one is not. He states “We wear the mask that grins and lies,” meaning that Dunbar feels as though he can’t complain about his struggles because it is better than before even …show more content…
The two poems both demonstrate themes of confinement and discrimination, written in the late 1800s when segregation and racism was thriving in America. On the other hand “We Wear The Mask” and “Sympathy” are different in a way that “We Wear The Mask” is more hopeful of the future where as “Sympathy” has lost all hope. In my own opinion I believe that “Sympathy” did the best job in portraying the American Dream, though not the side everyone usually thinks of. I think “Sympathy” portrayed the other side of the American Dream, not the white picket fence family, but the minority groups that have to work hard to get where they want to be. Although it may seem that “Sympathy” is more pessimistic than “We Wear The Mask” and less hopeful, I think it is more realistic in what American is really like for minority groups in