Chapter two of Masks of War examines Carl Builder’s thesis that the U.S. military services each have a unique service personality and that their cultural characteristics influence service operations, including joint operations. The examination will summarize how Builder defines the individual service cultures in his book, The Masks of War, and how these service cultures affect the Joint Organizations to which they belong. This chapter presumes with a summary of what many consider is the most dramatic military reform legislation in American history, the Goldwater Nicholas Act of 1986. Builder’s study of military service culture was sponsored by the RAND Corporation and initiated by the Army. Specifically, the study’s purpose was to determine why anomalies existed in the ability of the various services to conduct systems analysis.…
When Questioned, "Why do you not like talking about the war and things that happened back then?" Telly Robbins, a Vietnam veteran answered "I don't want my kids or wife to know of the things I had once did, I don't want them to think of me as a monster. I also do not want to relive things that happened". While he explained his feelings, fear and sadness could be heard mixed in with his voice, this sadness was egregious, even though it was almost ephemeral and could not be noticed to the hoi polloi. A man, who is a human felt as if he had become a monster because of the war, not only the war though, the things that he had done to innocent civilians', and his fellow soldiers.…
James Baldwin’s short story, Sonny’s Blues, is a story about the narrator’s younger brother, Sonny, who has been in trouble with selling and using heroin, and how the narrator deals with it. Throughout the story, the author uses music and imprisonment as motifs. He also uses rage and fury as a common theme. Blues music, which is characterized as a template of chords with lyrics reflecting sadness and usually pertaining to African Americans, is very similar to Sonny’s Blues. Baldwin uses these motifs and themes to shape the story similar to the musical structure of blues.…
In what ways do the poems ‘Flag’, ‘Out of the Blue’ and ‘Mametz Wood’ convey the emotions and images of conflict?…
However, Weigl is seized by his past and is forced to relive his traumatizing experience. The third stanza begins with a statement; “But still the branches are wire/And thunder is the pounding mortar”(17-18). In direct opposition to a previous line in the first stanza, that compared the branches to barbed wire using a simile, Weigl now states that they are wire with conviction. He is no longer attempting to suppress his horrific memories, but rather is beginning the process of fully integrating them within himself. The thunder thrusts him back into battle, as it reminds him of the sound of “mortar.” Weigle perceives mundane occurrences such as thunder or branches with the wounded perspective of someone who has experienced the trauma of war.…
I feel that it was her struggles of being a women, a cuban and having to fit in a society where people are focused on color and ethnicity, rather than the person itself. I feel the mask represents the many face we put on and society, just to fit in and feel a sense of acceptance, even if we are playing a…
After reading Dunbar’s poem, “We Wear the Mask,” I feel the poem was meant for an educated audience since the dialect was written in Standard English. In the first line, “We wear the mask that grins and lies,” the African American people are telling their side of the story through this poem. How they truly feel is contrary to their smiles, although, they suppose that things should not be any different. The author is trying to show the audience that many African-Americans are putting on a front for the world to see while, they endure their pain silently.…
We Wear the Mask a poem written by Paul Laurence Dunbar. I believe that Dunbar’s poem speaks out on the harsh realities of the mistreatment and injustice of blacks. It depicts the struggles of survival for black people living in white America. It also describes how blacks were forced to repress their true feelings of grief, sadness and pain.…
Many humans in today’s society often try to control their surroundings. Yes, there are many things that people can control, but one thing will always remain constant. In Robert Penn Warren’s poem “ Evening Hawk,” Through his use of language, Warren is able to convey to his audience that time never ceases. He creates a very detailed underlying meaning and sets the mood for the entire poem.…
at first i believed the poem, a secret life by stephan dunn, was going to be about a person living a double life. however i realized the secret life dunn was reffering to are the secrets we hold which caught my eye. i believe each and every one of us contain secrts, it is part o our human nature. as dunn mentiones, we shouln't have a secret life but we all keep our secrets inside, keeping it alive. i can personally relate to those secrets because i know we are scared or too embarressed to share to share with neither our closest friend. we have an obsession with proteting others or and oursleves, we forget to speak our minds and be honest. there are lines dunn analyzes this concept which are my favorite lines.…
Dunbar’s We Wear the Mask addresses the faults of humanity and the intersectional themes of race, society and class within the poem. The “mask” within this piece is symbolic of the ways in which society structures and organizes individuals to conform to societal standards. To support this theory - Dunbar uses the American Dream and slavery to remind his readers “we” wore the mask back then and “we” still wear the mask to this day.…
In Paul Laurence Dunbar’s, “We Wear the Mask”, Louis Armstrong’s, “Black and Blue”, and Ralph Ellison’s, Invisible Man, all three pieces share a resemblance, because all the poems show people being broken or sad from the inside, but lying and faking a smile on the outside. In “Black or Blue”, Armstrong sings, “I’m hurt inside, but that don’t help my case” (Armstrong 12). Invisible, who is the protagonist in Invisible Man, doesn't follow the “rule” until the book is nearing the end. People prefer the fake version of a person over the real version. In the Civil Rights Movement Era, that’s how black people had to behave, just like Dr. Bledsoe. In, “We Wear the Mask”, Dunbar writes, “Nay, let them only see us, while We wear the mask,” (Dunbar 8-9).…
Dulce et Decorum est by Wilfred Owen and Homecoming by Bruce Dawe are about the disaster of war, yet they speak of different wars with different mindsets of the soldiers. In the following essay I discuss the history behind the poems, the poetic devices that Owen and Dawe used. Each poem addresses their own truths about war.…
The lyric poem “We wear the mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar is a poem about the African American race, and how they had to conceal their unhappiness and anger from whites. This poem was written in 1895, which is around the era when slavery was abolished. Dunbar, living in this time period, was able to experience the gruesome effects of racism, hatred and prejudice against blacks at its worst. Using literary techniques such as: alliteration, metaphor, persona, cacophony, apostrophe and paradox, Paul Dunbar’s poem suggests blacks of his time wore masks of smiling faces to hide their true feelings.…
E. A. Robinson wrote the poem With Rue My Heart Is Laden, an expression of sorrow…