Putting on a Happy Face in We Wear the Mask by Paul Lawrence Dunbar

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Most would agree that putting a smile on the face will almost allow a feeling of joy to start from within. Furthermore, what is known is that every coin has two sides and within that dark side, the smile has many different facets. The thought and discipline in civil resistance on others that look upon some as inferior is a sign of a goodly man. In “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar one facet it shows is his oppression in the world and vagueness one must reflect; through his poem, it shows the revolting world he lives in and the smile of obscurity to conceal himself from the evils in the world.
In the beginning stanza, it’s all about concealment and deception that is hiding from a treacherous possible outcome. The author writes, “We wear the mask that grins and lies / It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes / This debt we pay to human guile” (Dunbar 1-3). In the first line, it implies a group that is hiding its true feelings from others by saying we. It is the face of deceitful refusal to accept the wrongs as rights to the oppressors around them. The second line it explain...

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