Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)
We Wear the Mask
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!
Since our next unit is poetry, I thought I'd try a poetry connection to LOTF this week. Paul Dunbar lived after the Civil War, yet he focused much of his poetry on plantation life. This poem is really referring to life as a slave.
What connections can you make to LOTF with this poem? Did the boys live the lives of slaves on the island? What universal theme do you see?
35 comments:
The masks in the poem can be connected to the masks that Jack's tribe wears. It didn't seem that all the boys lived the lives of slaves because most of them were all focused on having fun. the only working one was Ralph who was actually working to survive. The theme could be that we all wear masks to hide our true selves.
The masks in this poem can be connected by the mask that Jack was wearing in the novel Lord of the Flies. Jack wears the mask so that the boys can follow it, and not just Jack's orders. It didn't seem as though the boys were living their lives as slaves, but as having fun. Ralph and Piggy were the main young boys who did work to survive on the island until they were rescued. Unfortunately, Piggy had died before the rescue. The universal theme could be that Jack was wearing the mask because he wanted to show only his evil side and let the littluns follow his selfish, and mean side created by his mask.
"We Wear the Mask" is a poem written by Laurence Dunbar who is one of the first African American to gain national eminence as a poet. In this poem masks is used to can be connected to the mask that Jack wears in the novel Lord of the Flies. “he capered towards Bill, and the mask was a thing of it’s own, behind.…”“The mask compelled them” (64). Jack wears the mask a as a result the significance of the mask is also a part of Jack’s character change. The character change is about how he only wants to show his evil side. It didn’t seem like the boys were slaves in the book; maybe the littluns because they were under controlled by Jack (because of the struggle for power). Ralph the chief and Piggy who’s is intellectually smart were the boys who mainly did all the did work to survive on the island. However Simon acted more of like the helper not really like a slave because he would do work for his own pleasure. The universal theme could be that there has to have an disparity of class, wealth in order to create a good society and that a good society makes mistakes because there is evil in each and every person.
Shadowed island memoried comes flying
out of time on gruesome wings of pages;
this book of words comes buzzing, comes cloying,
comes tripping, shafting dripping images
in my mind. In my shadowed mind I see
a tribe of boys turn bestially from
the rites of humankind, as they dine, free
as pigs unfettered run, I hear the thrum
of hooves on hearts; and homemade darts invade
my head, the dancing, prancing animals
progressed to Mankind’s principals, remade
by Nature’s laws to be—undesirables.
The fly-torn Lord picked up his sword and clove
my naïve mind; and so was story wove.
Erin Elizabeth Kelly-Moen
Photo by Erin Elizabeth Kelly-Moen
4/28/04 © Copyright
well the masks in the poem is like how in the book when jack and the hunters wore masks when they started to make the transition into being savages. and the line when it says about paying your debt, its like how the hunters left the pig's head for the beast. and the line when it says about the torn and bleeding hearts they smile, the hunters had no remorse for killing simon or piggy. i think that some of the boys did live as slaves because in the beginning of the book, the choir boys listened and obeyed jack's rules and ralph made rules for eveyone on the island, but neither jack or ralph followed the rules. the universal theme could be that the mask brought out the evil in everyone on the island.
The masks in the poem can be connected in the LOTF's book when Jack wore it when he started to be a savage. They did not lived as slaves because they were always having fun and they did not work that hard to get food or something like that.
the Mask that was mentioned in this poem is related to the masks that alot of the main characters in LOTF wore, take Roger for example, in everyone's eyes, he's an evil little boy who is just following what everyone else's doing, but actually, Roger is really planning and scheming alot of things that Jack does, like voting, and the fire and the fort. The theme could be that no one is really what they seem
The connections I made is about the mask and how they have to cover up their real face and true feelings. The boys somewhat lived like slaves because they had to do whatever Jack told them to do. The theme is that sometimes people hide behind a "mask" when they feel they can't show their emotions or tell someone something and they fake what they are feeling.
The poem definetly connects with Jacks tribe. I do think they lived the lives of slaves. By their behavior I believe they were slaves to the devil itself. The theme would say that no matter how hard we try to bring out our true selves, there is always a barrier that it will always face to break. And that is the mask like in the poem.
according to the poem written by Laurence Dunbar, 'we wear the mask' to me is associated with the mask because in the story it says that jack uses a mask as a symbol of some sort for his tribe and leadership just like Ralph and piggy with the conch. except the mask in the story compels them which means overpowers. but the difference/ yet similarities from the story and jack to the poem is that the poem seems to show that the mask is used for hiding your true self and it says ' nay, let them only see us, while we wear the mask' which means let them see who we choose to be then seeing who we truly are. just like jack, when he wore the mask he acted like a new character like he was on top, he was the over powered. even when he took off the mask he still had it on because he stayed the same person.
The masks to me make a connection in LOTF because it is what the boys wear in the book to make them more savage.When Jack wears a mask, his character completely changes into someone who is feared and someone who the rest of the boys feel intimidated by.Jack lives out his savage/evil side through the mask. In a way some of the boys lived like slaves on the island. Ralph, Piggy and Simon are the ones left to make the shelter for the rest of the boys. Jack and the "savages" are left to get the meat for the boys to eat. I think the theme is that everyone wears masks at some point in there lives so they can be covered from their reality.
A connection I made to LOTF and this is poem is when Paul Dunbar says "We sing, but oh the clay is vile Beneath our feet, and long the mile...." this means that the longer the kids stay on the island they'll start losing hope of being rescued, and for Dunbar the life of a slave is never over it never ends. The boys probably fealt that they would be a slave to the island forever. Dunbar also ran out of hope, and he never fealt that he would get freedom. When he says the clay is vile he might mean that he is getting sick of the ground or his surroundings. When he says we wear the mask, it might connect to Ralph and Jack because they want to show the littleuns it alright, but actually they are scared for themselves also.
this mask does have a connection to the LOTF. this mostly connest to jack in the story. it also connest to all the people in jack's tribe, beacuse all of them have masks on and the mask symbolizes the bad in the tribe. if you noticed piggy,ralph,and simon dont wear a mask cause they are the good in the book. this poem talk about how everyone has there own evil inside of them. he is describing a mask as the evil that is just waiting to come out. he symbolizes mask as a type of face covering the when weraing it you are showing your evilness.
in the poem the mask is can be connected to jack and the rest of his hunters [on what they wear]. it doesnt look like the boys are living life as slaves because there wasnt any racist cause in the book, and no one was getting bought or anything, the hunters thought of it as a game and their just having fun. the theme is probably that we all have masks that covers our true self, and we dont knoe how to be true with out it.
we all wear a mask to hide our true selves. we become slaves to those masks as we become lost to who we once were and it takes over what we are. the masks in lotf signify this change as crude and beastlike. all humans have a mask and those that dont allow it to take over are "good".
The boys were inarticulate when Jack told them what to do. Instead of mutinously having a discord with Jack they let him "treat them like slaves." With how they had tribe clothing and chants. And even if they did say something it didnt effect what Jack had previously said. The part where it said "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." I think that ties into how the boys dont want to show Jack their true emotions they just want to let Jack see them the way he wants to see them and they just want to have fun and just let everything roll of their soldiers.
I think the masks in the poem connects to LOTF when Jack becomes a savage and his savageness is his mask. The mask that Jack wheres shows that he uses it to get the boys to follow him and be a hunter with him. This is what changes him completely, the mask. He gets so into being a hunter and killing he loses his real self and wears the mask through out the novel. Some of the boys are treated like slaves because of Jacks mask for example Sam and Eric said they were forced to be in Jacks tribe and Jack hurt them too. They were the look out at the top of the casttle for Jack. I think the theme is that at one time or another in life people wear masks to hide themselfs or because of the reality of life.
i can connect that the kids under jacks controll probbaly feal like the slaves becasue they work and get beaten. The mask in the poem reminds me of jacks savage like acts.
I made the connection to LOTF, where the boys- the hunters- painted masks on their faces. Blending in with their surroundings, like savages. The mask changed who they were, into a whole nother person. I think some of the boys were symbolized as slaves, because of the fact that they followed Jack's every move. They did what he told them to do, and they were punished for their every little moves. Jack owned them; he controlled them. I think the theme is that, in life, people change whether they know it or not. It happens. They may try to cover it up, but its always gunna be blankly stated on their face- like a mask.
The mask in this poew can be connected by the mast that jack is wearing in the novel lord of the flies. The mask simolizes seperation and violence that jack wears and he singels out selected people to join him in this and those are people that are trained to kill.
i was wondering. did jack wear the mask to symbolize savagery, or did he actually do it to hide his emotions. roger definitely wore a mask. not only the painted one, but a veil of darkness that pertained great amounts of evil.
i don't think the boys were necessarily slaves because they were working for their own well-being.
the universal theme might be wearing a mask for protection, or not showing weakness. maybe slaves wearing psychological masks to protect how they felt.
By this poem i can pick out some items that relate to LOTF.
1.) "The Mask"
The mask is like the face paint that they used to make themselves more savage, more stealthy.
2.) "We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise." This reminds me of Simon and how he was like tortured by the pig's head; while the boys were having their fun and games ("We Smile")then they realize that they killed Simon ( "Our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise."
the mask in this poem is like when Jack wore the mask that compeled him. I think the boys did live as slaves in the island because they were torture, teased, and they had to listen and obey Jack's order for his tribe. I think the universal theme is many people were treated bad when they were slaves just like Jack did to the tribe. Jack wanted to show his evil side of him beacuse he wanted the other boys to be scare of him and not to mess with him.
When I first saw this poem I thought that it had to have a connection to Jack's mask. But after reading it numerous times,I saw that there is a deeper connection. The poem is about slaves that hide the pains of their horrible lives with a mask of cheery attitudes. This is the same in LOTF when all the boys are having fun and playing, where deep down they are homesick and miserable that they have to live somewhere that they don't want to be. Both the slaves and the boys hide their true emotion with cheery attitudes. They are both forced to live in conditions that make them miserable.
The mask in the poem can relate a lot to LOTF because in the poem it says how they were masks to hide or for other reasons and the story they were mask to camaflouge from the pig but most important the mask in the story can resemble a change in life for them it resembles savageness,murder,there tribe mask can resemble a lot of things and by wereing these masks it also shows how Jack has the control over them to disrespect them etc. i think this poem was a good connection to the story it gave a lot of meaning.
The mask can be used as the paint Jack had. To me the boys were not treated as slaves but only following a certain but not meaning that they were slaves of course every group or society needs a leader. The universal theme I saw within this poem was having fear of dieing and losing your life to face cruelty of your leader.
I could connect that poem to how Piggy feels. Everybody just looks at him as him just being a fat kid but they dont look at whats on the inside
Well, the only connection with the Lord of the Flies is that in the story, Golding trys to state the statement of that everyone is evil. But they did not know that they are evil. They think they are kind and nice people. However their faces just like a mask that hide the inside what their evil mind is thinking about, this is the use of the mask.
The masks in the poem mean the transformation into savagery. The boys under Jack's control were slaves on the island because they did whatever he said he wanted them to do. The universal theme I see is that evil dwells within us even though we are purely good people.
The masks in this poem is a symbol of the the camo that the hunters wore. Also it shows that the innocents of them is gone because they were slaves of the island. They let the island take them over when they hunted that first pig.
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THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE POEM AND THE LOFT COULD BE WHEN JACK DIDN'T SHOW HIMSELF AS HOW HE REALLY WAS, I MEAN, HE PRETENDED TO BE THE BRAVE ONE IN THERE, THE SMARTEST, THE BRILLIANT, BUT HE WASN'T NONE OF THAT, SO WE WAS WEARING A MASK.
I DON'T THINK THE BOYS LIVED AS SLAVES BECAUSE ALL WORK HARD BUT THEY ALL GOT SOMETHING TO EAT WELL AND A PLACE TO SLEEP.
THE UNIVERSAL THEME THAT I SEE IS THAT EVERYONE HAVE SOMETHING TO HIDE TO THEMSELVES, SOME SECRETS THAT THEY DON'T WANT TO SHOW BECAUSE IT'S A SHAME TO THEM.
I made the connection to LOTF when it repeatedly talks about the masks, and slavery. The boys on the island were treated, and acted as slaves when Jack was in control of them. They painted their faces, and acted as savages. They hide their true feelings beneath it all and never revealed themselves. Jack turned them into completely different people. The theme would be that sometimes people feel the need to hide themselves from others who arn't like them because they feel they arn't accepted. Or they just arn't content with being who they really are.
The mask is the conch.
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