Select the correct answer from each drop-down menu. 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.

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Jerry Gilmore

History

27 December, 20:38

Select the correct answer from each drop-down menu. 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.

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Gustavo Davila · Answer 1

In the three times that Dunbar uses the phrase "We wear the mask" (first to introduce the main idea and at the end of the next two stanzas), he used it to narrate and describe the common experiences that African-Americans share about their daily lives in a predominantly white society. These experiences are led by the feelings and thoughts that African-Americans have to hide by "wearing the mask."