Question

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 Wear the Mask,” Paul Laurence Dunbar k" during a period of widespread racial discrimination in the United States. Why might the wearers of the mask not want people to see their pain?

Answer 1

The correct answer (sample response) is:

Concern for their own safety. The fear of appearing weak. The belief that the world wasn't ready to see it. The feeling that revealing pain would hinder their success.

The wearers of the mask would not want people to see their pain because of these things.

`|Huntrw6|`

Answer 2

Solution: The poem describes the experience of blacks in post-Civil War America. The narrator is wearing a mask not because of double-standards or hypocrisy but to hide his pain. It is believed that condition of Blacks has improved by that time but the truth is not that. Their condition is still miserable. An exposition of their pain might invite contempt of White Americans, the mask allows them to function in society without displeasing others.