We Wear the Mask by Laurence Dunbar

789 Words4 Pages
Published in 1896, “We Wear the Mask” is a lyric poem about oppressed black Americans forced to conceal their pain and frustration behind a cloak of happiness. During the time of the poem's publication, hostility and hate towards blacks was widespread throughout America. Although the Civil War had granted blacks their freedom from slavery and federal laws gave them the right to vote, own property, etc., they still were not treated as equals. Segregation become a big problem among blacks and whites. Schools, restaurants, libraries, even insignificant things such as water fountains were all segregated. It was claimed that everything should be “separate but equal” between blacks and whites. This was not the case at all as everything the blacks had was of a lower quality and poorer condition. Hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan were formed for the sole purpose of hurting and tormenting innocent blacks. Vicious beatings and lynchings were common acts of the Ku Klux Klan. Despite major advances in favor of blacks, racism is still an issue to this day making Dunbar's poem still relevant over one hundred years later. In order to get through day to day life, blacks often hid their pain and frustration from everyone, not only the whites but other blacks included. This was done mainly to protect themselves. If they were to share their true feelings and thoughts, the whites would have surely retaliated with beatings and other forms of mistreatment. They did not feel is was worth the risk to voice their true emotions when it would not have gotten them very far anyways. This is where the theme of the poem, “We Wear the Mask,” comes from. The first line of the poem, “We wear the mask that grins and lies,” illustrates how blacks hid their true feelings behind a “mask” of happiness. The mask is a metaphor for the hidden feelings of the person wearing the mask. The mask may grin
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