Compare/ contrast the use of figurative language in the two poems "Harlem"by Langston Hughes and "We wear the Mask" by Paul Laurence Dunbar.

In my mind, the use of figurative language resides in how
both thinkers conceive of being a person of color in America.  For Dunbar, the use of
the “mask” is designed to conceal the pain of being Black in America.  The mask is to
hide the struggle and frustration in a land that preaches opportunity, but delivers
quite another reality.  The use of figurative language is designed to present that a
dual consciousness plagues people of color for one part of their identity seeks to
believe the promises and possibilities of America while another fully understands the
despair and denial within it.  The mask is employed as a metaphor to convey both
experiences.  In some ways, Hughes uses his examples of figurative language to tear away
the very mask that Dunbar creates.  Hughes is open in his opening line about the reality
of this condition.  He does not necessarily answer what happens to a dream that is put
aside on a continual basis.  Yet, rather he explores this idea through a series of
images that brings to light the reality of what goes on underneath the mask that Dunbar
suggests is worn by all of those who are pinned on the outside looking in to the America
of their hopes and dreams.  In Hughes’ world, the use of figurative language helps to
explore the complexity of what it means to be a person of color, in particular, African-
American in the nation of the modern setting.  Both thinkers use figurative language as
a way to bring to light the pain and struggle in a part of American life that is not
completely articulated in a lucid manner.