Which of these is a theme statement? the story had an impact on many readers. a group of friends achieves success in the city. hard work and perseverance pays off in the end. a woman and her children move to a new town.

Hard work and perseverance pays off in the end.

Explanation:

In literature, a theme is a message or life/universal lesson, often expressed in one single sentence, that a literature work conveys about a topic. And just as there are many topics in a single narrative, the are several themes. From all the choices, option "Hard work and perseverance pays off in the end." is an example of a theme because it's the only one that expresses a message that we may take as a piece of advice to apply to our own life or to other literature work.

the answer is:  

he is voicing feelings shared by all humans regardless of race.

in paul laurence dunbar's poem "we wear the mask," he replicates the words mask and we to emphasize how people in general -not just black americans- hide their true feelings. he suggests the masks cover people's faces and eyes, which are the main parts that display their emotions. he also thinks people's pain conceal behind those masks, so that they cannot see reality and nobody is able to see one another's sorrow.