The Greatness of the African American Race - Essay Example

In fact, the mask is personified as something that “grins and lies,” which means that the grin is actually not real (Dunbar 1). Moreover, the mask “hides [their] cheeks and shades [their] eyes,” for perhaps the cheeks of African American slaves were bruised and their eyes constantly shedding tears, even years after they were freed from slavery (2). Nevertheless, they did not want other people to see that they were suffering. The mask also covers their “torn and bleeding hearts” and makes them “smile” despite all these negative experiences (4).

The main reason for wearing this mask is not necessarily a sort of strength of character but rather a longing for privacy and from further judgment of the world: “Why should the world be over-wise/ In counting all our tears and sighs?” (6-7). African Americans especially those during the time of Dunbar perhaps did not want to be viewed by the rest of the world as helpless and pitiful creatures. They have lived enough pain, suffering and judgment, and so what they needed at the moment is a restoration of their pride.

The mask helps in achieving this purpose, for while they are still actually in grief, they have to begin moving on to a new, happier phase in their personal lives and in their life as a people. In fact, the mask symbolizes the greatness of their desires as a people, especially their desire to be happy and to rise above their sufferings. The influence of the greatness that the mask ascribes to the African American people is felt even in poems published long after Dunbar’s. Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes’ poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” is heavily influenced by a poem like Dunbar’s.

In Hughes’ poem, the greatness that Dunbar’s “mask” symbolizes is evident in various great places that the African American race has touched. As implied in Hughes’ poem, it was the African Americans who first appeared on the face of the earth for they bathed in the most ancient of rivers – the Euphrates “when dawns were young,” or during the dawn of civilization (Hughes 4). Moreover, it was the African Americans who “looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it,” which means that they were the first who built the longest river and the greatest man-made structure in the world (6).

What then have the African Americans got as a reason to grieve? They are great and they deserve every bit of happiness that comes their way. Nevertheless, slavery has caused them suffering, and so they have to remember their greatness. As the mask in Dunbar’s poem reminds the African Americans of their right to happiness as a people, it is Hughes’ portrayal of great places in his poem that reminds his people of the greatness in them. Overall, Dunbar’s “mask” influences Hughes’ speaker function as a collective voice of the entire African American community.

This is the voice of greatness and joyous celebration of culture amidst all the pain that history has brought forth to their race. After the Civil War and the Reconstruction, the situation of the slaves may not have been that stable yet.