Langston Mckay The White City Essay

In the poem, “The White City,” McKay once again utilizes the power of figurative language and descriptive imagery to illustrate the ongoing battles that African American faced during the time of racism and segregation. McKay’s title “The White City,” symbolizes the fact that the speaker is a black man in a city full of predominantly white individuals, and it is because of his skin color that he is discriminated against. When the speaker says, “My being would be a skeleton, a shell,” (Line 5) he is metaphorically comparing himself to a skeleton and a shell. A skeleton is a lifeless object with no soul, and by comparing himself to a soul-less object, he is emphasizing that without his “dark passion,” (Line 6) which is his “life-long hate” (Line 3) towards whites, he would be empty, like a “shell” (Line 5). McKay’s use of this metaphor shows just how driven the speaker is to prevent himself from being discouraged and his refusal to accept the fact that he will never be an equal part of the “mighty city” (Line 9). McKay then uses personification in line eight to exaggerate the speakers need to be full of hatred because it is his anger and frustration that feeds him “vital blood,” (Line
Hughes’ free and simple writing style, permits him to write more openly about his African American identity, therefore creating a sense of pride and dignity in his poems, whereas McKay’s commitment to adhere to the form of a Shakespearean sonnet limits him and his poetry to an already set paradigm, conveying the idea that he feels confined and repressed by society because of his skin color, and as a result many of his poems reveal a sense of anger in hopes that that anger would be enough to encourage African Americans to fight