If We Must Die By Claude Mckay

It is popular consensus that Claude McKay was an influential intellectual leader during the Harlem Renaissance, however, many people dispute Claude McKay’s writing prose as well as his personal literary itinerary in regards to African American matters, which raises the question, “Assertive? Or offensive?” Is it possible to declare assertion without being offensive? These are just a few questions which developed while reading the profile of Claude McKay in addition to a few of his publications, in particular, “To the White Fiends” and “If We Must Die”. According to history, even other prolific writers of the Harlem Renaissance such as Alain Locke and W.E.B. Du Bois believed McKay’s literary works to be outwardly aggressive and distasteful.
Even though McKay was extremely direct, and perhaps a little antagonistic, his writing paints an image for the reader of African American thoughts and feelings towards slavery and freedom during the renaissance. Why did other African American writers during the Harlem Renaissance find McKay’s publication so aggressive and invasive? After reading Home to Harlem, in which the main character falls in love with a prostitute, W.E.B. Du Bois announced that the novel, “for the most part, nauseates me, and after the dirtier parts of its filth I feel distinctly like taking a bath.” Du Bois found McKay’s lewd reflection of Harlem to be intolerable. Claude McKay also depicted prostitutes in his poetry in such works of “The Harlem Dancer” and “Harlem Shadows.” McKay specifically writes about his surroundings in black Harlem in “Harlem Shadows” when he states, “Ah, stern harsh world that in the wretched way of poverty, dishonor, and disgrace, has pushed the timid little feet of clay, the sacred brown feet of my fallen race! Ah, the heart of me the weary, weary feet
The violent tone of “If We Must Die” can easily be interpreted as hostile and vengeful. He writes about “monsters we defy” and “the common foe” which some construe as McKay describing the white community as monsters and enemies. This poem has a clear strong message in that he felt his race was treated the same as “hogs hunted and penned in an inglorious spot.” (pg. 1005). He clearly felt like prey within the Harlem community and declared his unwillingness to continue to be mistreated and abused without fighting back. “To the White Fiends” has a direct audience in which McKay extends his feelings about violence and crime against African Americans to his white readers. “Think you I am not fiend and savage too? Think you I could not arm me with a gun and shoot down ten of you for every one of my black brothers murdered, burnt by you? Be not deceived for every deed you do I could match-outmatch”. Some readers may view this as a threat of violence to the white community, however, could it not also be interpreted as a declaration of pure ability to be just as cruel in return for being mistreated? “But the almighty from the darkness drew my soul and said: Even thou shalt be a light.” This statement identifies his belief in a higher power and being a light for others instead of being swallowed by others’ dark intentions. Even