We Wear The Mask Essay

In the twentieth century, the United States of America has transitioned into a more diverse nation. Immigrants arriving from around the globe combined with African Americans to challenge the American identity. As a result, prominent figures including Theodore Roosevelt believed every American should indeed be Americanized. Throughout the twentieth century, Americanization, which means to sacrifice an old culture in favor of American culture, remains an issue amongst authors in particular. Authors in the twentieth century expressed their stance on the battle between cultural heritage and American assimilation. Some authors such as Langston Hughes supported diversity and pride in their culture. On the other end of the spectrum, others like Booker

The title itself directs readers towards a sense of assimilation by wearing a mask. Wearing a mask indicates hiding an original identity in order to please the mainstream one. This is exactly the case in “We Wear the Mask”. In this case, blacks had to hide their humiliation and suffering from their white counterparts by wearing a mask that lies. When Dunbar wrote, “With torn and bleeding hearts we smile” (646), it is evident that African Americans were forced to hide their pain by showing a fake smile. They suffered emotionally on the inside but could not express it. In addition to showing a fake smile, African Americans did not care about their heritage. The third stanza reads, “But let the world dream otherwise, / We wear the mask!” (14-15). The lines do not celebrate cultural heritage because the slaves had to show pleasure while they are being tortured. Letting the world dream otherwise shows the slaves’ carelessness when it comes to expressing their identity.They are concealing their true self by hiding their pain. Hiding their pain also means hiding their cultural

Tan becomes more conscious of her language use in this essay. At work, she uses sophisticated English. At home, she speaks choppy English, so her mother, who has broken English, can understand her. Even though Tan possesses an extensive English vocabulary, she acknowledges her mother’s English skills. She shows this by telling her mother, “not waste money that way” when shopping for furniture. Tan is conscious of not only her own English skills, but also her mother’s English skills. This broken English shows that she acknowledges cultural diversity since she is also raising awareness that most immigrants struggle with knowing decent English in the process. According to Tan, language “suddenly seemed to me, with nominalized forms, past perfect tenses, conditional phrases, all the forms of standard English that I had learned in school and through books, the forms of English I did not use at home with my mother” (Tan, “Mother Tongue”). This English is the only English where she can successfully communicate with her mother. She could not speak this type of English with her husband or colleagues. As seen with Tan’s mother, is okay to live in the United States without extensive English knowledge. Tan did not force her mother to match her own English. Rather than doing so, Tan was willing to communicate with her mother by speaking in choppy English. Tan concludes that language is a tool that changes depending