We Wear the Mask

Identity is one of the central themes the poem explores within its many layers, both up close and from a distance. The title of the poem “We Wear the Mask” introduces the main theme and refrain of the poem, the collective identity of African Americans, as something hidden away for safekeeping, for protection, and for survival. Covering up one’s identity for the sake of the world is repeated throughout the poem, which reveals the state of constant turmoil the speakers live in. It also paints a picture of another collective identity, “the world” made up of an audience indifferent to others.

The theme of a mask as a metaphor for concealing identity through a false identity, or W. E. B. Du Bois’s theory of “double consciousness,” a term said to have been inspired by this poem during the Civil Rights Movement, is both simple and complex. A mask covers one’s face with another face, and one’s face is symbolic of their identity. Even children can understand this concept. As mentioned, the fact that race is not mentioned in a poem about identity, and knowing Dunbar’s life and history, the poem seems to also contain multiple identities as a result.