Select the correct answer from the drop-down menu. Read this excerpt from "We Wear the Mask" by Paul Laurence Dunbar and answer the question that follows:

We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes, —
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And a mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!

What effect does the poet achieve by repeating the phrase "We wear the mask" throughout the poem?
Complete the sentence to answer the question.
In the poem "We Wear the Mask," Paul Laurence Dunbar voices his repressed anger and frustration toward American society. He repeats the title phrase three times in the poem, using the words mask and we to show that

He repeats the title phrase three times in the poem, using the words "mask" and "we" to show that:

A. he is speaking about a common experience that the African American community shares.

Explanation:

Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906) was an African American poet. Son of enslaved parents, Dunbar's works constantly questioned society, segregation, and racism.

"We Wear the Mask" is a social poem that shows concern for the life of the African American community in the post-civil war period. According to the speaker of the poem, the African American community was forced to wear a "mask", that is, to smile and pretend that things were okay when they were anything but. Former slaves were even forced to fight in the war - a war that was not theirs - and then act as if life was good.

With that in mind, we can choose the first option as the correct one. Dunbar repeats the title phrase three times in the poem, using the words "mask" and "we" to show that: A. he is speaking about a common experience that the African American community shares.

what are the choices?