Deceitful Mask
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The Deceitful Mask
"We Wear the Mask," by Paul Laurence Dunbar is a poem about slavery and how they could not expose their sorrow and fear. They had to hide these feelings, so they put on a metaphorical mask. "We wear the mask that grins and lies, / It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes," implies that this mask is lying about their true feelings and hiding the evidence like the look in their eyes and the redness of their cheeks. This is probably not the first time you have heard of this deceitful mask. This mask is not just for the slavery workers, I too wear this in different situations. I tend to use my "mask" when I am hurt, in pain, or dislike someone.
The most common situation in which I would wear a "mask" is when my feelings have been hurt by someone else. I put this mask on to look happy in front of others, while in reality I am hurt and unhappy inside. This shows the great lengths that I will go so that others think that my life is good. I am not about to let them know that whatever they have done or said has hurt or offended me...