Analysis Of We Wear The Mask By Paul Laurence Dunbar

The poems “Sympathy” and “We Wear the Masks” by Paul Laurence Dubnar share a common theme of being confined in some way, barring from freedom. While in “Sympathy”, the speaker sympathizes with a caged bird. This is shown with the line “I know what the caged bird feels!” (7). On the other hand, in “We Wear the Masks”, the poem is about how African Americans are forced to hide behind a mask in the face of discrimination, sacrificing their freedom. This also can be shown with the opening line, “We Wear the mask that grins and lies” (1) and the lines “Nay, let them only see us, while/ we wear the mask” (8-9). The evidence shown here demonstrates that the poems “Sympathy” and “We Wear the Masks” both share a theme of being confined from