In the course of a person's life, one often finds it convenient to present a false persona than explain emotions or opinions in trying social circumstances. In literature, such as Black Like Me and Their Eyes Were Watching God, this facet of human interaction is often captured in the metaphor of masks. Dunbar's poem "We Wear the Mask" elucidates the psyche of the world's population, effectively summarizing the external transformations used to conceal one's inner self. The donning of a mask is used by characters throughout both these novels in order to allow them to deceive, catechize, and pacify.
John Howard Griffin details how people of different races often act differently around one another. In the December 1st entry, Griffin marvelously portrays this hypocrisy. After an incident between whites and blacks on a bus nearly escalates to fighting, a white man claims to the black man, after the trouble, that "before he slapped you, he'd have had to slap me down first." (Grif
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Chances are the average person who asks how you are does not want to hear the negative side; in fact they are probably just being courteous. He acts as though he would fight for the black man, but he would not even speak up for him. It is as though the white man is trying to make amends for the hardships the blacks go through, but not noticing his own racism. "She was saving up feelings for some man she had never seen" (Hurston 72), still dreaming that she will eventually find love, but masking her true feelings from Jody. On this occasion, noted in the book to not be the first time, Griffin is repeated questioned about his sexual life. She resolves that Jody, despite his cruelty both physically and emotionally, would never know how she really felt. As Griffin goes through his travels, he often receives rides from white people to shorten the length of his journey. Masks have always been and will continue to be used until people feel comfortable openly expressing themselves.
Another exquisite example of “two-facedism” comes from Griffin's book and is performed face-to-face with Griffin. Although the comment was simply a "momentary slip" (Griffin 91), such a comment would never have so much as entered the white man's thoughts were he not alone. The white man would not, however, dare speak those worlds if other whites were around.
Hurston's book also has outstanding representations of "two-faced-ness," but in a way that better pertains to a normal life.
Approximate Word count =
668
Approximate Pages =
3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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