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Masks as a symbol in lord of the flies
Masks as a symbol in lord of the flies
Masks as a symbol in lord of the flies
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“We wear the mask that grins and lies”(Dunbar line 1). We Wear The Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar is a rondeau that varies between 10-15 lines in length and is organized into three stanzas. This poem meaning is that we hide our true feelings underneath a veil of false expressions, we try to hide our real feelings to conform with society and be what society calls normal and we conform our personality to our parent’s dreams. The poem shows this meaning in the first stanza, the first line “We wear the mask that grins and lies,”(Dunbar line 1). This means that we hide our true feelings with a face of happiness instead of showing our true face. The rest of the first stanza,“It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes, — This debt we pay to human guile; with torn and bleeding hearts we smile, And mouth with myriad subtleties” (Dunbar line 2-5). This section means that we
“Why should the world be over-wise, In counting all our tears and sighs? Nay, let them only see us, while We wear the mask” (Dunbar line 6-9). This stanza talks about there is real pain being felt by many people and that the world has a responsibility to recognize it. The people wearing the masks also have a responsibility to themselves and each other to be honest about their suffering, but they can’t show who they are. The world only sees them with their masks on, it isn’t merely concealing them for the sake of dishonesty, they wear these masks to hide their real emotions. Line 7 indicates the severity of the truth behind these masks, the line also says “In counting all our tears and sighs” (Dunbar line 7). This line tells me that there are more tears and sighs than the speaker’s which shows he’s talking about how the world doesn’t know the true feelings of the people ‘wearing a mask’ which is the meaning of this
The first two lines of the poem set the mood of fear and gloom which is constant throughout the remainder of the poem. The word choice of "black" to describe the speaker's face can convey several messages (502). The most obvious meaning ...
For fear of judgment based on appearance, any human being might cover up his sorrows as to not display any signs of weakness. Throughout Dunbar’s poem, the characters reflect upon their perception of the world and ironically accept the world the way it is. Revealing the true nature of the world, Dunbar states, “Why should the world be over-wise, /In counting all our tears and sighs?” (Dunbar 6). The poet insists that everyone need to be more comfortable and open to new ideas while embracing each others uniquenesses defined by strengths and weaknesses. The world was never “over-wise” because people dismiss the idea of helping others in fear of ruining their own reputation. Because of the utter nature of society, citizens have no other option but to wear a mask of apathy and cover up their insecurities. The narrator feels the need to conceal their feelings by “wear[ing] the mask that grins and lies” (Dunbar 1). They use “lies” to cover themselves, but at the same time question why no one seems to care. This contradiction complicates the battle between the world and the individual. Nevertheless, by changing their identities, they spread the idea of disguise, making everyone blind to the truth of human
The poem, "We Wear the Mask”, by Paul Laurence Dunbar is about separating Blacks people from the masks they wear. When Blacks wear their masks they are not simply hiding from their oppressor they are also hiding from themselves. This type of deceit cannot be repaid with material things. This debt can only be repaid through repentance and self-realization. The second stanza of “We Wear the Mask” tells Blacks whites should not know about their troubles. It would only give them leverage over Blacks. Black peoples’ pain and insecurities ought to be kept amongst themselves. There is no need for anyone outside the black race to know what lies beneath their masks. The third stanza turns to a divine being. Blacks look to god because he made them and is the only one that can understand them. They must wear their mask proudly. The world should stay in the dark about who they are. This poem is about Blacks knowing their place and staying in it. This is the only way they could be safe.
“In Defense of Mask,” by Kenneth Gergen he states that it is not possible for humans to find a coherent self identity without having a solution. The idea of developing a “coherent sense of identity” makes us act a certain way to please the wish of others. Gergen wants to find intentions of an individual 's choice of mask and how outward appearances and inward feelings we all come across. The author proves his statement by experimenting on people who had a positive and negative reaction from an interviewer.Therefore, the “coherent identity” versus “multiple identities” is detrimental to many individuals when they are trying to perceive into someone that they wish to become. I agree with Gergen, because having a mask hides
Dunbar, Paul Laurence. “We Wear the Mask.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2007. Print
In the time of the Great Depression, many people were in moments of suffering and hardships. However, African American were facing moments of prejudice and segregation, that was sonly based on the color of their skin. In the novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper lee and the poem “We wear the mask” by Paul Lawrence Dumber, gave incite to those moments and how African Americans changed themselves to fit in to the white people society.
“We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar and “Richard Cory” by Edwin Arlington Robinson are two poems that depict how many people hide their feelings from others. The two poems are similar in theme, but are told from different points of view and differ in plot.
In the past there were two types of shamans, the good and the bad. The good ones
I think in the beginning, this poem is mocking the façade of happiness that many clean-cut individuals have. It is a mockery of the thoughts in the criminal mind. Many times, a criminal cannot bring himself to commit suicide, so they take someone else's life instead. By doing so, subconsciously, the criminal knows he will be caught and in turn, executed.
The mask is a form of deception or illusion. Sometimes, it can be worn as both. It hides the true emotions of slaves, keeping the slave master from knowing what is going on in their minds. The mask also allows the slave to have an identity without the master’s detection. The mask gives the illusion that the slave is exactly how the masters believe, ignorant, incapable of true emotion, and unable to think for themselves.
“Be a man”, is on of the most destructive phrases to tell boys and men. The Mask You Live In explains the struggles boys and men have growing up in a patriarchal society. I chose to watch this to understand how men feel oppressed. All year, I became aware of females and their struggles in the patriarchy. It is interesting to see that men are affected too. The documentary should have had more personal stories because it allows the audience to connect with and have empathy for men. On the other hand, the movie thoroughly demonstrated the inner conflict boys and men face in society. Men feel they must be strong and dominate. They feel they need to hide emotion and empathy in order to fit in. They must be manly in order to
All humans wear a mask of some kind; whether it is a false representation varies from person to person. This reality is revealed in poetic fashion in the piece “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar; the short story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and the play Othello by William Shakespeare. While all in different genre’s, they all contain the similarity of deception and creating a mask for the rest of the world to see in order to hide their true self. In the story “Young Goodman Brown”, Goodman Brown experiences everyone around him wearing the mask of Christianity and holiness, and he therefore loses his own faith. In the Shakespearian play Othello, the antagonist, Iago, deceives the Othello by maintaining a mask of honesty
The poem begins with the refrain, "Ah, look at all the lonely people." The same refrain is used to end the poem, making a complete circle. This creates, for the reader, a sense of loneliness about the poem as a whole. In the second stanza, Eleanor is introduced as a woman who cannot face the world as her self. She wears the “face that she keeps in a jar by the door.'; Literally this can be interpreted as makeup, but symbolically she is hiding her self.
Masks by Emil Nolde is an oil painting which is currently displayed at The Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City Missouri. My first response to the still life painting was that of a very weird and bizarre, yet playful mood. The mischievous looking figures rendered with intense color, gave off a sense of horror without the dim dull color scheme typically portrayed in horror settings. At first glance, one could notice the eerie grin or grimace upon the countenance of each of the five individual figures. I believe Nolde rendered the painting in this manner to capture the viewers attention in a way that would provoke a sense of terror and jab at their emotions.
Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask” is a lyric poem in which the point of attraction, the mask, represents the oppression and sadness held by African Americans in the late 19th century, around the time of slavery. As the poem progresses, Dunbar reveals the façade of the mask, portrayed in the third stanza where the speaker states, “But let the dream be otherwise” (13). The unreal character of the mask has played a significant role in the lives of African Americans, who pretend to put on a smile when they feel sad internally. This occasion, according to Dunbar, is the “debt we pay to human guile," meaning that their sadness is related to them deceiving others. Unlike his other poems, with its prevalent use of black dialect, Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask” acts as “an apologia (or justification) for the minstrel quality of some of his dialect poems” (Desmet, Hart, and Miller 466).