Claude Mckay If We Must Die

Claude McKay’s poems reflect on American culture during a specific time in history, known as Harlem Renaissance. A time where racism was predominately a way of living for many, this was a beneficial time in history for African Americans. Bringing blacks together in a new movement that had not been present in America. Development in which blacks emphasized themselves by taking on their racial identity. It was a time period in which the black community helped each other to be able to express themselves as who they truly are, creating a true African American visual doing so

Around the time of the Harlem Renaissance, blacks still faced many adversities that prevented them from thriving as a people. As seen in the Reconstruction and Post-Reconstruction eras, blacks were often discriminated against and even attacked by whites all across the nation. These attacks all culminated in the infamous "Red Summer of 1919," when hundreds of African Americans were slaughtered in race riots in dozens of cities, including Chicago, Washington D.C., and Elaine, Arkansas. While many blacks were extremely fearful of this impending danger, the esteemed poet Claude McKay boldly spoke out against the cruelty shown towards his people. In his poem "If We Must Die," McKay encourages blacks and commands them to stand and fight against the misdeeds committed by whites. Instead of asking blacks to accept their fate or to uselessly flee from the threat of death, McKay dares them to stare death in the face and to fight against the power that whites try to hold over them. In his sonnet "If We Must Die," McKay uses bestial imagery, biblical allusions and first person perspectives to motivate African Americans to defy the violent tyranny of white Americans.

Claude McKay’s 1919 sonnet, “If We Must Die”, came at a time when African-American lives were conditional, and seemingly dependent on the actions of the white community. McKay’s choice to write his poem in the form of a Shakespearean sonnet, a form usually reserved for flowery love language, could be attributed to either establishing his worth as a writer to a community not so accepting of black writers and/or to use an easily understood format to convey the strong message of injustice within American society at the time. The times surrounding this poem was an era of hostility and racial tension, where the lives of black men were less valued than their white counterparts. McKay’s “If We Must Die” is reminiscent of a speech which rallies a group of soldiers going into battle. However, rather than soldiers, the audience is the African-American community dealing with their day-to-day lives.

In the poem ,“America”, Claude McKay uses figurative language and diction to create a dark tone, a powerful empowering tone, and an optimistic tone. The theme of double consciousness of African-Americans is supported in the poem and the poem itself also connects to the purpose of the Harlem Renaissance which was to fight back racial hate and stereotypes with black empowerment.

During the Harlem Renaissance, many African Americans struggled through a shifting period in time from slavery to equality. Some African Americans expressed their feelings at that time through poetry such as “Yet Do I Marvel” written by Countee Cullen and “If We Must Die” by Claude McKay. In “Yet Do I Marvel” Cullen writes about how the struggles he is facing relate to God and how he is being punished. McKay’s poem is slightly different; he emphasizes the idea of dying an honorable death for his freedom. These two poems are classic examples of how some African Americans felt during the Harlem Renaissance.

Racial prejudice often creates a division between the racists and their victims, and thus results in isolation and alienation of the victimized racial group. During the Harlem Renaissance, discrimination and oppression against African Americans was still prevalent, despite the 1920s being a time of expression of African culture. This juxtaposing concept is analyzed through Claude McKay’s poem “The White City”, which explores the perception of an African American speaker, presumably McKay himself, who longs to be a part of the White City, while retaining a deep, inner hatred of the city. Although McKay initially demonstrates his endearment and attachment toward the city through visual imagery, he directly juxtaposes it by expressing his hatred with tenacious, despicable diction. This juxtaposition not only serves to represent the struggle of being an African American in a white supremacist city but also displays McKay’s paradox of appreciating the “White City” while feeling detached from it.

The poem America by Claude McKay is on its surface a poem combining what America should be and what this country stands for, with what it actually is, and the attitude it projects amongst the people. Mckay uses the form of poetry to express how he, as a Jamaican immigrant, feels about America. He characterizes the bittersweet relationship between striving for the American dream, and being denied that dream due to racism. While the America we are meant to see is a beautiful land of opportunity, McKay see’s as an ugly, flawed, system that crushes the hopes and dreams of the African-American people.

Clearly provocative and even chilling, “If We Must Die” by Claude McKay stirs deep and powerful emotions in any who reads it. A poem inspired by violent race riots, it serves as a motivating anthem representative of an entire culture. Graphic and full of vengeance this poem is demanding action, not telling a story. McKay utilizes imagery to its fullest extent creating an end result which any man or woman, black or white, who has ever felt the hard and hateful hand of oppression can relate to.

Claude McKay and Langston Hughes were both prominent African American Men in the Harlem Renaissance of the early 1900s. As such, they have received their fair share of the racism prevalent during this time period. Their concerns with this issue are addressed in McKay’s “America” and Hughes’ “I, Too, Sing America.” Both poets show disregard for the treatment they receive but still desire for an America in which African American prejudice does not exist. However, McKay conveys his vision of a bleak, foreboding fate for blacks while Hughes displays his confidence that America will have a hopeful future in which he is treated as an equal.

The Kansas City Call summed up the general mentality of African Americans during the 1920s with the statement “The New Negro does not fear the face of day.” (pg 118) Unlike the old days of slavery, African Americans had become more radical towards their oppressor and were beginning to organize as a people. Harlem Renaissance poet Claude Mckay embraced the “New Negro” archetype in his work by stating “If we must die, let it not be like hogs/ Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot….. Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack/ Pressed

All three of the poems discussed in this essay relate to the struggles suffered by African Americans in the late 18th century to the early 19th century in many different ways. They had to live under harsh

Claude McKay was a Jamaican poet who brought hopefulness to the oppressed during the Harlem Renaissance in his poem, “If We Must Die”. McKay experienced the hardships that colored people were going through because of their race and nationality. He believed that the people should fight for what they believe in, even if it seems like a hopeless cause. McKay uses the concept of dying with dignity to persuade his fellow African-Americans that are being oppressed to fight for what they believe in.

During the 1920’s a new movement began to arise. This movement known as the Harlem Renaissance expressed the new African American culture. The new African American culture was expressed through the writing of books, poetry, essays, the playing of music, and through sculptures and paintings. Three poems and their poets express the new African American culture with ease. (Jordan 848-891) The poems also express the position of themselves and other African Americans during this time. “You and Your Whole Race”, “Yet Do I Marvel”, and “The Lynching” are the three poems whose themes are the same. The poets of these poems are, as in order, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Claude Mckay.

In the fight for equality, people of color often feel isolated and separated from those whose privilege reinforces their oppression. However, there are and always have been white people who see the inequalities that are practiced in society and speak out against them in hopes of reaching equality for all. Langston Hughes used his voice in poetry to express his experience as a black man in the United States during the Civil Rights Movement, and his is a household name. There is no doubt that his words have power. The reader expects to feel his experience and gain empathy and understanding through his poetry. In his poem, “Let America Be America Again,” Hughes presents his experience of American life in a powerful contrast to the experience

McKay pointedly discusses and examines the radian inequality experienced by some American citizens during the twenties. Throughout the poem, McKay teeters back and forth between his intense positive and negative feelings of both America and the American way of life during this period, for example, his unexplainable love for the country versus the people’s racism which he personally encounters like when he says “l will confess/I love this cultured hell that tests my youth”(America,3,4). This was a very exciting time for many Americans as the roaring twenties were coming into full swing and society was celebrating the decade of carefree decadence, but there was a seedy dark side to America as well. For example, blacks in the South, where McKay