Aul Laurence Dunbar's "We Wear the Mask" and "Sympathy" are poems that resound with suffering. What causes the pain of the people who wear the mask and the repeated injuries of the caged bird? Why do the people and the bird not change their situations? To whom do the sufferers appeal in their pain, and why? Use the poems to support your response

Answer and Explanation:

In relation to the two poems, we can see that what causes pain in people wearing masks and in the caged bird is the impossibility of showing who they really are and exposing what they really feel. People who wear masks hide their feelings, while the caged bird cannot fly as its nature desires.

People and the caged bird do not change their situation because they are trapped in their own reality and need outside help to escape. The bird needs someone to open its cage, while the masked people need to ask God for help to support their lives.

Both the bird and the people make an appeal to God, because he is the only one who can understand them, truly listen to them and free them from their prisons.