Comparing The Mask By Angelou And Dunbar

The poetical works of both Maya Angelou and Paul Lawrence Dunbar, "The Mask" and "We Wear the Mask", respectively, both convey agreeing and disagreeing views of personal identity through their voices of emotion. Both speakers mention the necessity of hiding their true identity. Dunbar speaks more to the unity of the mask, hiding a group, whereas Angelou speaks more to her own personal struggle. Both speakers mention outward expression in the face of adversity. Angelou speaks of laughter, whereas Dunbar speaks of smiling. Both speakers cry inwardly when they are suffering.

Angelou and Dunbar speak of hiding their true identities in the face of the world and it's adversity. Both authors speak to a communal mask that all men and women wear. Angelou and Dunbar suffer in their lives, so they must wear a mask to hide themselves from the glaring public eye, for the public cannot help them. The mask forms their identity to the world, but they themselves have a personal identity that only those truly close to them know of. In a wider sense, everyone wears a mask; hiding themselves from everyone else.

Angelou and Dunbar both speak of expressing their emotion outwardly, but Angelou laughs when she is troubled whereas Dunbar speaks to crying out in agony in the same situations.

Angelou’s inclusion of onomatopoeia, or her laughter, gives the audience a sense of false hope that she is fine. Throughout “The Mask”, Angelou ironically uses laughter to counteract her own suffering. She speaks to the duplicity of her own emotions, for she cries whenever she thinks about herself and her relatives. Dunbar speaks of smiling outwardly, but crying out to Christ internally. Both speakers talk of the world only seeing them when they are wearing the mask, because the world is too critical at times; the speakers would be

ridiculed.

Angelou includes Dunbar’s piece in her own, possibly to provide the basis to her own poetry. The inclusion may also serve as a sort of homage, likewise, Angelou wishes to add her own experiences to it. This supplements the theme of a collective suffering, that Angelou wishes to be regarded as one of the sufferers that Dunbar speaks of.

A few shifts can be seen in Angelou’s piece. She transitions from speaking of herself and her inner conflicts to speaking of the struggles of her forebearers. Her forebearers also had to hide their true emotions because of their position in the world as second-class citizens. This also holds true with Angelou, thus she seems to resonate with their experiences and tribulations.