We Wear the Mask Analysis

By Amy Woodward

We Wear The Mask

By Catherine Clinton

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 overwise,

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 crises

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!

            In my opinion this poem reflects the theme of prejudice in To Kill a Mockingbird by showing the reader how horrible and misunderstood life can be when people are prejudice. This poem echoes the way of the South during TKM. The mask would be the words of the town. It would be all the things the women talk about but no one allows the truth to be shown. The poem is an analogy of prejudice to me. It some what has its own mask on, because it is talking of something much more great and deep than just wearing an actual mask. It talks about the social mask of society. 

Click Here to Return to 'Mockingbird' Page