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Paul Laurence Dunbar's They Wear The Mask

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“We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes-.” This quote is from the poem, “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar which is a poem about the struggle that Paul Laurence Dunbar’s family went through during their lives being enslaved. This quote represents the role that a mask can play in covering up true self. By wearing a mask, a person is covering up their unique features. Also, they are not letting anyone get to know them as well as hiding their persona from the public. Due to being confined behind a mask, it is more harmful to wear a mask. The first reason why wearing a mask if harmful is because a person may hide their emotions. For example in the song, “The Real Me” by Natalie Grant, Natalie is trying to express her feelings about her life as it is without a mask. She is revealing her identity as she goes along through life experiencing all of its twists and turns. In the first line, it states, “same old game of plastic smile.” Also, “How much will they take before I’m empty.” This evidence shows that her feelings were not real while using the mask. Natalie Grant was faking a smile just to get by with life. This means that she is putting on a facade to keep her emotions hidden. Another piece of evidence showing that masks can hide a person’s emotion is in the …show more content…

In the text “Still Me Inside” on page 231 it states, “I was late for school and needed a pass… I was met by a surprisingly stern look… Don’t make a habit of it.” This shows that Mai, a “good Asian girl” who decided to change her appearance based on stereotypes that were given to her did not like who she was labeled as. The office confused her with just another punk but she was far from that. This shows that she should have gotten help because she is getting new labels and other looks and comments that could change her outlook on

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