Literary Analysis

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Slavery
Slavery has been an emotive issue when it comes to the American population. The field of literature has made efforts to try and educate the world on the age of slavery. That is meant to show the effects of slavery as well as discourage the society from such. Paul Laurence Dunbar comes up with a poem to ensure that he can explain the difficulties the black community faced during the slave era. He is also able to bring out the issue of race and how it played into slavery as well as the inclusion of other aspects of identity such as sexuality and gender. This paper will focus on the poem and how it is able to tell the slave narrative and its relationship to issues of race, gender, sexuality, and the American culture.
A race has been a topic of discussion in the American culture for a long time. The poem is meant to show how people are using some form of cover to ensure that people do not see who they are. The masks that are being worn by the characters being addressed in the play are meant to make sure that other people do not get to see who they are in a real sense. The mask is a disguise that can be used to make sure that individuals can move past the particular group in society. This means that all persons are able to make progress past the specific people with the masks without having to question their existence or their intentions. Dunbar could have used the poem to show the differences between the white masters and the slaves where the slaves had to put up appearances.

The similarity between the two poems lies in the fact that both authors are encouraging the readers to live for the day without much care for what tomorrow brings. Because a life should be lived before one dies and a life should be lived with no regrets. Meursault is a person who loves life and aims to live it with no regrets (Camus 110). He lives his entire life with complete freedom and claims that he would not change a thing about his life if he had to. That is why he does certain things such as not crying at his mother’s funeral and not showing any form of remorse for his killing of the Arab. If given a choice, he would do these things all over again without changing a thing (Camus 99). He did not cry for his mother because she lived her life well and she was ready to live her life all over again, if she could, in the exact same way. And this is the same to him. Therefore, the main similarity between the poem and the last days of Meursault is that both show a clear love for life and a reluctance to change the way they lived it. Both show a yearning for life and a deep abhorrence for death.
There are several ways to accomplish living life to the point of tears. The major way is by making choices that make one happy and leaving alone things that do not make one happy. One can also live like this by making sure they take advantage of all the opportunities presented to them without faltering because an opportunity missed is a cause of regret. In addition to this, a person can make sure that they always leave relationships that are toxic to them and their mental health so as not to feel eternally stuck in a loop. It is the way I try to live my life so that I never have regrets and are happy to the point of tears.
Work Cited
Camus, Albert. “The Stranger. 1942.” Trans. Matthew Ward. New York: Vintage International (1989).