Paul Laurence Dunbar; `We Wear the Mask`, OR Countee Cullen; `From the Dark Tower`

p Paul Laurence Dunbar `We Wear the Mask

Introduction

We act and interact with people . Our disposition with A is different from that of B . With C it is yet different . We converse with the people with a purpose . We know what to talk to a particular individual and what not to talk . We change the track of the talk , just like a chameleon changes colors . There is a good admixture of conflict within the co-operation we extend in a given situation . A hidden agenda is part of our declared and published

agenda . Even when we pretend to walk on the royal road , we keep in mind the plan of escape through the secret route Our priorities within and without are mostly different and they are guided by extraneous considerations . The mask is sandwiched between perception and presentation of issues . That 's what Paul Laurence Dunbar means-- we wear the mask

One can 't study a man by studying one 's palms , hair , legs or foot . We can gauge an individual by studying the reactions on one 's face . To hide the true emotions in front of other human beings , for whatever reasons we wear masks . Knowing fully well that pretense will not pay in the long run , and yet we pretend ! The shadow is not the reality of a personality and yet we think about the shadow - the mask ! We have a casual approach towards honesty . We pretend to believe others to them and try to others by our pretense . We are permanently at war with our own selves and think of victory through guile . We switch-off and switch-on the grin , because it is the grin that is meant to lie

May be that we wear mask not to outsmart others , but with a genuine feeling to hide our true emotions , the suffering on account of trials and tribulations . We sincerely don 't wish others-- our intimate friends and well-wishers-- to know about our suffering and sympathize with us Rather we are inclined to suffer privately . In such situations human beings wear masks to hide the reality of the difficult situation . When we wear masks we are like actors in a drama . What we talk is the rehearsed dialogue written for us by others . Our heart and minds are not involved in those emotions

After a matter of fact introduction to the mask , the poet comes to the serious aspect-- the necessity to wear the mask ! He makes an agonized prayer to Christ as he writes , `We smile , but O great Christ , our cries To thee from tortured souls arise ' Here , the poet pleads forgiveness with the Lord while he submits to him the reasons for compulsorily wearing the mask . Because the All-Pervading and the All-knowing Lord can understand the reasons as to why one is obliged to wear the masks to enable one to overcome the hopeless situations in life

In the lines , `We sing , but oh the clay is vile Beneath our feet , and long the...