Analyzing “If We Must Die” by Claude McKay
The Harlem Renaissance was a period of time during the 1920s and 30s in which African American had a significant cultural influence. Claude McKay was a poet and writer who contributed to the Harlem Renaissance movement. His poem, “If We Must Die”, was a sonnet written in response to what became known as the Red Summer of 1919 where many hate crimes and murders of African Americans took place. The poem addresses the injustice and struggle that people of his color face, comparing their daily issues to a war that they have to fight. The sonnet, although short, stirs the feelings of those who read it. It is a call to action, telling the black men of the time not to lie down and let atrocities be forced upon them. In the first line of the poem, McKay compares black men to hogs, saying “If we must die, / let it not be like hogs /Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot”. The poem establishes the African Americans as subservient and below the superior white men; they are being hunted and trapped by hate. Because of this feeling of being hunted, the white men are …show more content…
Although the black men are being slaughtered, they must fight and die with their dignity intact. The poem urges, “If we must die, O let us nobly die, /So that our precious blood may not be shed /In vain; then even the monsters we defy /Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!” McKay also speaks of bravery, telling his fellow African Americans that even though they are outnumbered the need to be brave, fight back, and die with honor instead of being complacent. Towards the end of the poem, McKay goes from comparing the black men to hogs to transforming them into men; they are equal to the white man and are showing that they will not be beaten down. However, the white men -the oppressors- are still being compared to a pack of dogs because of their vicious appetite for the death of the African
The Harlem Renaissance was a period of time during the 1920s and 30s in which African American had a significant cultural influence. Claude McKay was a poet and writer who contributed to the Harlem Renaissance movement. His poem, “If We Must Die”, was a sonnet written in response to what became known as the Red Summer of 1919 where many hate crimes and murders of African Americans took place. The poem addresses the injustice and struggle that people of his color face, comparing their daily issues to a war that they have to fight. The sonnet, although short, stirs the feelings of those who read it. It is a call to action, telling the black men of the time not to lie down and let atrocities be forced upon them. In the first line of the poem, McKay compares black men to hogs, saying “If we must die, / let it not be like hogs /Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot”. The poem establishes the African Americans as subservient and below the superior white men; they are being hunted and trapped by hate. Because of this feeling of being hunted, the white men are …show more content…
Although the black men are being slaughtered, they must fight and die with their dignity intact. The poem urges, “If we must die, O let us nobly die, /So that our precious blood may not be shed /In vain; then even the monsters we defy /Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!” McKay also speaks of bravery, telling his fellow African Americans that even though they are outnumbered the need to be brave, fight back, and die with honor instead of being complacent. Towards the end of the poem, McKay goes from comparing the black men to hogs to transforming them into men; they are equal to the white man and are showing that they will not be beaten down. However, the white men -the oppressors- are still being compared to a pack of dogs because of their vicious appetite for the death of the African