Analysis of We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar Essay -- Slavery

Analysis of We Wear the cloak by Paul Laurence DunbarWe Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar is a renowned piece ofliterature that has been the loose of various literary criticismsover the years. Because of the poems indirectness and generalizedambiguity, the interpretation of the we that wears the mask andwhy they do so is left unanimously undisclosed. It is up to the instance and the support given by the interpreter to produce avalid representation of the meaning that lies beneath the mask. Onesuch depth psychology of We Wear the Mask is presented by Peter Revell onpage 71 of his book Paul Laurence Dunbar, which was published in 1979by G. K. Hall & Co. Unfortunately, the given argument nearly shamesthe abstruseness of Paul Laurence Dunbars poem with its brevity andlack of sufficient support. In Revells short and weak interpretation of Dunbars We Wear theMask, he suggests that it is unacceptable for the non-black reader todraw inspiration or admonition from the subject matter, and that itwas written from within a black experience and exclusively for a blackaudience. However, this analysis can be viewed as primarily invalidbecause as Revell makes this claim, he fails to provide solid evidencefrom the text that would fully booster his assumption. He only whenpulls an entire stanza from the poem to illustrate his point, withoutreferencing specific words or phrases that would elucidate hisargument. If Revell were to have supplied more fully the evidence of Dunbarsother poetry of the time, demonstrate how it objectively displayed a blacktheme and straightforwardly addressed the injustices of slavery, thena parallel of similarity could have been drawn between the two and his... ...s ace such mask that profoundly affectedDunbar personally.Revell failed to see the possibility that We Wear the Mask couldrepresent anything but the turmoil the black slaves endured because ofDunbars disposition as a descendent of slaves. However, theinterpretation that this poem speaks to all people is supported morefully through the text as a result of Dunbars use of the universalwe in coercion with religious reference. All people wear thismask and until one figures out the most appropriate way to resign itoff, the world dream otherwise and all will continue to fool and befooled by the worlds countless masks. Works CitedRevell, Peter. Paul Luarence Dunbar. coupled States of America G.K.Hall & Co., 1979Brawly, Benjamin. Paul Laurence Dunbar Poet of his People. New YorkThe University ofNorth Carolina Press, 1936.