Ellison credits his "decision" to be masked in order to "confront its mysteries (New York) with a combination of uncertainty and daring". Little does he realize that he is hiding from his true self. His desperate need to fit in leads him to believe that his masking will help him to appear like a "New Yorker"; but it doesn"t. Ellison is caught between trying to survive as both an African-American and an American. Ellison toils between trying to escape the ridicule he received because of his race and trying to hide behind it. "Which is to say that in many instances I found my air and attitude could offset the inescapable fact of my color" (268). The reality of it all was that nothing offset his color. No matter which way he looked at it there was some aspect of his race that was holding him back. He felt that he was accepted when wearing his mask, but from the outside looking in, Ellison was trying to modify whom he really was just to fit into his new version of society.

             This idea of masking became a very important concept because of the transition that occurred with the interaction of the two cultures. Ellison discovered through his travels in New York City that he was in fact, as he said "accepted on the basis of what one appeared to be" (151). Through the act of putting on a mask, he was enabled to mingle amongst the other culture but was also changed at the same time by having the experience of wearing the mask. This almost created two worlds of the sort, the masked and the unmasked world. When was it acceptable to put on a mask, when was it not? On the other hand, Ellison admits that we must step away from the person that the crowd wants us to be and see our second self, the self that we are when we are not wearing the mask. "If we can"t see our other self, then we might as well accept what roles and personas others have made for us.