look into it does it display a genuinely
nice person who follows the rules and
regulations of society does it reflect
upon the disappearing innocence as you
lie to your parents and friends does it
show a smile crying for help because of
a deeper sadness in your life or maybe
you’re just thinking about how you look
like a whole snack during my early
American literature class sophomore year
my substitute teacher often did a type
of poetry of the day activity in order
to further analyze a poem structure or
meaning one day our class was given a
title we were the masks by Paul Laurence
Dunbar now the poem displays how we you
to use false personas whether the
intention is to lie or perhaps for other
personal issues the poem begins with we
were the mask that grins and lies it
hides our cheeks and shades our eyes
raise your hand if you have ever lied
before if you’re not raising your hand
you’re probably lying to yourself right
now does this not perfectly show how we
typically present ourselves in front of
others on a day to day basis
constantly we lie and it becomes so
prominent that we forget who we are now
when I first read the poem I couldn’t
help but think about the mask
featuring Jim Carrey for those who
haven’t seen it it’s about this regular
banker who discovers his magical green
mask and it turns into this vivid
spontaneous being now trouble starts to
stir once you I was a bank and even more
trouble as cause because the creator’s
decided to make a sequel but the
philosophy of how and why we were our
own masks fascinated me I laid in bed
later that night thinking about how many
times the people around me have lied to
me people I thought were caring in kind
turned out to be the same people who
backs out one another and gossip behind
each other’s backs it was like watching
a rerun of Mean Girls as high schoolers
were tearing each other apart
it was quite the spectacle to see
friendships and Trust ruined in just one
school day and this even applies to
adults as well
celebrities and role models that we look
up to in this modern society get caught
up in all of the deception gossip and
lies
do you guys know people magazines or Us
Weekly magazines
fun fact that covers a viewers weekly
are about 35% accurate and this even
applies to family as well
the amount of times I’ve heard a family
member say something like Nancy hi how
are you how are the kids I love what
you’ve done with your hair and then
later saying oh my god I hate her so
much
I cannot stand her reality or so proper
Oh wash the world be over wise and
counting all our tears in sighs nay let
them only see us while we were the masks
sometimes we were masks to hide our
emotional feelings growing up we
question everything from religion to
education to relationships what do I
want to do with my life why am I still
friends with this person oh my god does
that boy even like me what’s the meaning
of life it reminds me of this video that
I saw online it starts with this ceramic
boy who wakes up all sad and depressed
he goes to his bathroom mirror and looks
at himself he takes out a mask that
looks exactly like him but with a happy
smile then he continues on with a
regular school day this includes getting
bullied in class not talking because
he’s too shy and reserved having no
friends to sit with at lunch and then he
goes home and he’s welcomed by the abuse
of his father and the constant screaming
and yelling of his parents later that
night he goes back into this bathroom
mirror again and he looks at himself he
takes off the mask and what is left is
cracks and missing pieces completely
broken with all these roaming and
unanswerable questions that we have in
our lives sometimes we do need a mask
because we can’t relay these feelings in
front of other people the problem is
when we take so much time that we lose
ourselves and we forget the types of
people that we want to become we smile
but oh great Chrysler cries to the our
tortured souls our eyes but besides
using masks to cover our self-doubts we
wear multiple masks in general if a
friend gives you a terrible birthday
present you’re not going to say that you
hate
get right in front of them you take it
politely and say thank you and perhaps
throw it out later on but the point is
that you’re doing it for the sake of
your friends feelings likewise you
aren’t going to teach someone how to
shoot a basketball during Cal class or
crack jokes during a funeral service
there are times and places to be
informal and formal including how you
talk and present yourself and depending
on how you care about behaviors social
norms and manners wearing different
types of masks displays how many
different kinds of personalities you can
create and these masks aren’t completely
immoral as you said sometimes they take
over our initial values and we forget
who we are well then it’s easy to ask
then why can’t we just be our genuine
selves we are only capable of being our
true selves if we are kept kept in a
place of pure isolation a place where no
person or thing can shape or influence
you but constantly we are surrounded by
all these influences whether it be with
parents friends family education
religion environment it’s quite
impossible to say that we can escape the
world and say that our true self is
based upon pure personal choices your
true self is based upon the values and
morals of the people that you meet and
deciding how you wanted to react to
certain situations comes from what you
learned which is kept in your
unconscious mind Sigmund Freud famous
philosopher he believed that the human
mind contained in unconscious and
conscious part the conscious mind
contains thoughts feelings and ideas
that are easily accessible because of
our awareness of the world while the
unconscious mind contains the
inaccessible knowledge that drives the
behavior of our personality such as the
morals that a parent or guardian teaches
you when you’re younger so the direct
answer is that none of us have a true
self our entities are a living facade
from the day we are born each of us are
impressionable and like said we have the
sphere of influence that molds and
shapes our personality and with this
we can see that the Contin conscious
mind is the thing that drives our
personality and behavior we don’t recall
the instances of when our parents first
speaks to us or teaches us how to eat or
speak because they’re kept in the
unconscious mind they’re placed into a
part of our brain that becomes the basis
of how we make decisions or react this
is why lying adapting and conforming are
all fundamental principles that travel
from the conscious part of our mind to
the unconscious each one of this in this
room is living in an inception of
facades all these influences in our
lives
build up to be what is called our true
self and part of our human nature every
day we continue to mold and shape our
personality and our own entities to our
ideal likings Paul Laurence Dunbar spomb
ends with we wear the mask and we do
wear the mask because it shapes us
it creates our entities and it will
leave an influence on the world to
become wearing a mask can be ugly if you
have the mindset that it’s only evil
that it can suppress you from living a
lifestyle you want but good moral values
being passionate about different types
of subjects that can lead you to living
a better life
accept that each of us live in the
facades of ourselves because we indeed
wear the mask so what will you make of
your mask what will you see in your
reflection thank you [Applause]