Literary Analysis Essay on 'The Chimney Sweeper' and 'We Wear the Mask'

Introduction

In every historical period there are important events that are able to change its sequence, just as the technological advances, which can be recognized in the world as the motivation for great changes that are experienced by the humans, which has laid the foundation for leaving the manual work behind and allow for the usage of newer and improved methods. In the novels, the chimney sweeper by Blake (2008), shows the industrial revolution in the history of man. In the history of humans, this was a hard time for the low-class members, since they had to work twice harder than the upper class to get a minimum wage. This caught the attention of the poet, William Blake to write about how young boys were coldheartedly used to sweep chimneys. Blake uses the title 'Chimney Sweepers' practically to show the ruthless conditions the industrial revolution exposed them to.

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The children encouraged him to compose a poem on the brutal act that the society did to these children, with the society acknowledging that these young children were being abused through their short years. Their fate was cruel, as these boys were sold by their families who could not make it feed them, at tender ages of six years, and apprenticed to trade. They were forced to work in the dangerous dark chimneys, and a dare to refuse to work there would result to a threat that they would be returned back to severe starvation and poverty, where they had come from.

The kind of job that they were exposed to was not only horrible but also very dangerous. They suffered high rates of exposure to cancer-related sicknesses from the soot, respiratory disorders, stunted growths, and physical injuries (Cogliano, 2010). Whatever choice that these children went for, whether to sweep the chimneys or suffer starvation, their lives were followed by death. Historical background of social differences between the rich and the poor during the industrial revolution is revealed.

The eighteenth century was a hard time for the children in England, where every common folk was struggling to get along with surviving. Some parents, especially the ones from low class could not manage to pay for food and basic care for their children. They did not have any choice but to trade them (Manley, 2018). It is unfortunate for them, since the society force them in a chimney sweeping career, which attracted very high mortality rates (Gordon, Wang & Bella, 2019) The poem of Blake tells a breaking tale of a child who was traded to chimney sweeping at a tender age, that calls for his devastating life. But questions of many, especially after reading the poem would be where was the authority, and its role in the protection of child rights. Thomas Paine stated that there were many people living lives that are not desirable in the peoples' lives and are not acknowledged politically, as the likes of the common folks who were let down by the class system, like the chimney sweepers among other laborers.

In one of the poem's actor, Tom Dacre, he is so upset by the way they are treated. In his sleep, he dreams apocalyptically, a dream of heaven for the chimney sweepers (Blake, 2008). However, he wakes up and finds himself still trapped in a horrible workplace. Blake criticizes the use of the promised future happiness to subdue the oppressed. Since the future of the boys is in their hard work in terrible workplaces, they carry on with their fatal work. The same promises were used by the authority to keep up the status quo to keep oppressed and the poor from uniting against these terrible inhuman conditions that they were being forced to.

What was being considered a superior moral against laziness among the young boys was actually a cultural criticism, which would maintain inhumanity in the sweeping of the chimneys among the boys. Tom Dacre's name is suspected to be derived from Tom Dark, which shows the sooty features of the chimneys. He is actually cheered by the assurance that outside the coffin, the future is his life's lot. His life is clearly awful and is made tolerable only through the anticipation of having a contented life after a fast follow up with demise (Manley, 2018).

In 'We Wear the Mask' by Lawrence Dunbar (1896), different cultures wore masks to express individual and group identities. For some of the cultures, the masks are vital in the sessions of their spiritual practices, while for others they are part of national customs, like independence and celebrations of war victory. Moreover, they played important roles in life rituals such as births, weddings, and burials. The different masks were used by different groups of people and on different occasions.

According to Critical Guide to Poetry for Students Ed. Philip K. Jason (2002), masks provided ways to answer the question of who am I visually. In his poem, Dunbar stated that people wear masks all the time, which grins and lie and hide their cheeks and eye shades. Dunbar believed that the smiles that the African-American wore were for survival and get back ahead. He further stated that they wore masks to hide their agony and bitterness for being treated unfairly during the isolated and unfair treatment during the post-civic American war.

The African American experience was one that includes all kind of people, from those who used their facial features not to show their real feelings. This shows that the African-Americans were probably afraid to show their weaknesses, or did not want to show how weak they were. Dunbar's 'We Wear the Mask', makes use of both the significant features and meditation while examining the needs for some special dissemblance in the world.

The poet represents the segment that society does not need to be aware of the sufferer's true feelings. He states that the African-American society pays the debt to human guile through wearing a grinning and lying mask. This shows that the speaker is speaking for all the humans who have pretended to be happy but in reality, they are really sad. The mask of grins and lies hides the existence of misery and suffering. With no doubt, these people are going through overwhelming hard times. They do not want the world to know anything about their true feelings and nature. It sets up an ironic emotional disparity between what people experience and what the other people are witnessing without observing the people.

The notion of pretending that one is happy when one is actually sad or practicing the whistle of a happy tune to cover up the fears is shown when the poet says that people sing, but there is a vile clay beneath their feet, and the mile is long (Harrell, 2010).

Conclusion

In these two poems, the different cultures and the historical background of the different people is shown, which are totally different, where whereas for some, in the William Blake's 'The Chimney Sweeper' suffering in inevitable, therefore have no option in hiding the misery, the others in Laurence Dunbar's 'We Wear the Mask' do not opt for mercy from the other people hence choose to hide their misery.

References

"We Wear the Mask - The Poem" Critical Guide to Poetry for Students Ed. Philip K. Jason. eNotes.com, Inc. 2002eNotes.com 11 Apr 2019 http://www.enotes.com/topics/we-wear-mask/in-depth#in-depth-the-poem

Blake, William. The complete poetry and prose of William Blake. Univ of California Press, 2008.

Cogliano, Vincent J. "Identifying carcinogenic agents in the workplace and environment." The Lancet Oncology 11.6 (2010): 602.

Dunbar, Paul Laurence. "We wear the mask." Lyrics of lowly life 167 (1896).

Gordon, Todd. Wang, Bella ed. "Song of Innocence and of Experience 'The Chimney Sweeper' (Songs of Innocence) Summary and Analysis". GradeSaver, 31 May 2011 Web. 11 April 2019.

Harrell Jr, Willie J. We wear the mask: Paul Laurence Dunbar and the politics of representative reality. The Kent State University Press, 2010.

Manley, Julian. "The slavery in the mind: Inhibition and exhibition." The creativity of social dreaming. Routledge, 2018. 91-108.