When We Wear The Mask Meaning

Most often our instinct as humans is to hide things we are ashamed of, our fears, and our pain from others. We will find one or two people to find confidence in. We hope for the day when grief or pain is no longer a part of our world but we have to recognize that this is unlikely. It is just as unlikely for us to have world where trust truly means something, and our word truly is everyone’s bond. The short poem, “When We Wear the Mask,” by Paul Laurence Dunbar is describing the world we live in and the world we desire. While, the poem is emotionally raw it uses symbolism in a few instances. We typically think when something is emotionally open then it is more direct, and less abstract. “When We Wear the Mask,” disproves this theory for me. The main object in the poem, the mask is symbolic. The mask is not a physical mask that one would wear on Halloween or to a formal masquerade ball. The mask is the face we apply to hide our emotions and our secrets. It hides the sly smile, when your opponent fails; it hides the intensive grief or the lies we tell to cover up the latter. “It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes” ( Line 2). Dunbar brings to light that our emotions are most easily recognized in our face, thus stating our mask will cover these areas to protect what we are trying to hide. Have you ever …show more content…
The word guile means “deceitful or cunning.” (Merriam-Webster.com.) Consequently, the word is particularly fitting for when we wear our mask it is with intent to hide and be deceitful. The uses of symbolism in the mask itself and the smile, we fake continue to demonstrate our need to keep private or feel ashamed of our emotions. Perhaps, it is our instinctive reaction to protect ourselves. In the end of the poem, Dunbar references how we want the world to be different. We have hope, for an open and raw relationship with each other, instead we discard changing human behavior. Ergo, forcing ourselves to leave on the