The mask (Symbol)
As the central symbol of the poem, the titular mask signifies the performance of a certain identity as a means of survival. This performance is specifically that of contentment, positivity, and happiness: the mask creates a façade that “grins and lies.” The incongruity between the mask and the pained face behind it (“tears and sighs”) symbolizes the disconnect between performance and true identity.
Dunbar’s use of mask symbolism echoes W. E. B. Du Bois’s theory of double consciousness: as defined by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “a source of inward 'twoness' putatively experienced by African Americans because of their racialized oppression and disvaluation in a white-dominated society.” Dunbar’s masqueraders are the African Americans who must develop two discrete performative identities—the mask, and the face behind it—in response to the violence (“torn and bleeding hearts”), ignorance (“let the world dream otherwise”), and oppression (“oh the clay is vile [...] and long the mile”) of the white world.
Disembodiment (Motif)
The mask-wearers often refer to themselves (albeit not through synecdoche proper) as isolated body parts and bodily phenomena. The speakers define themselves through acts such as "smile[s]" and "cries" rather than concrete notions of identity; their personhood is lost in the mentions of disembodied "cheeks," "eyes," "hearts," "mouth[s]," and "feet." The world tries to comprehend them by "count[ing] all [their] tears and sighs," rather than by engaging in sincere and empathetic conversation. Even the sense of individuality is erased by the totalizing singularity of "the" mask. Underlying these images of disembodiment, erasure, and disconnect is perhaps a desire to be understood as a complete and respectable human being.
The Bible (Motif)
The Biblical motif both intensifies the poem's anguished voice and adds a religious, and thus moral, dimension to the poem's argument. Biblical language and imagery abound in Stanza 3, which evokes both Jesus Christ from the New Testament ("O great Christ") and the Judeo-Christian creation story from the Book of Genesis ("but oh the clay is vile"). The reference to messianic salvation amplifies the poem's sense of urgency, and the allusion to Genesis reminds the reader of the common origin of, and the necessity for empathy among, the mask-wearers and the rest of the world. In such a context, the phrase "long the mile" may also evoke the narrative of slavery, labor, and exodus of the Israelites in the Old Testament, and emphasize the subtext of African-American slavery and discrimination.
