Read this excerpt from "We Wear the Mask" by Paul Laurence Dunbar and answer the question that follows: We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes, —
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.
Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.
We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!
What effect does the poet achieve by repeating the phrase, "We wear the mask" throughout the poem? Complete the sentences to answer the question.
In the poem "We Wear the Mask," Paul Laurence Dunbar voices his repressed anger and frustration toward American society. He repeats the title phrase three times in the poem, using the words mask and we to show that he is voicing feelings shared by all humans regardless of racehe is speaking about a common experience that the African American community sharesevery individual experiences some kind of alienation, though their experiences may differhuman survival depends on deception, hypocrisy, and lying. The first use of the phrase is matter-of-fact. In the second stanza, the statement is followed by a period, which shows resignation. However, at the end of the poem, Dunbar almost shouts the phrase defiantly. The mask seems to become something he wears proudly. Through this gradual emphasis on the phrase, Dunbar could be implying that people can triumph over suffering by accepting their circumstancespeople can protect themselves from being hurt by hiding their true self from the outside worldAfrican Americans can survive bad situations only by being defiantAfrican Americans used the "mask" to hide their suffering and gain a kind of victory against society.