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IF WE MUST DIE
By Claude McKay
If We Must Die is a poem by Claude McKay published in the July 1919
issue of The Liberator. McKay wrote the poem as a response to mob
attacks by white Americans upon African-American communities during Red Summer.
The poem was reprinted in The Messenger and the
Workers' Dreadnought (London) later that year. The poem was also read to
Congress that year by Henry Cabot Lodge, the Republican Senator from
Massachusetts.
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Claude McKay |
IF WE MUST DIE
By Claude McKay
If we
must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted
and penned in an inglorious spot.
While
round us bark the mad and angry dogs
Making
their mock at our accursed lot
If we
must die, o let us nobly die
So that
our precious blood may not be shed
In vain;
then the monsters we defy
Shall be
constrained to honor us though dead.
O
kinsmen! We must meet our common foe
Though
far outnumbered. Let us show us brave
And for
their thousand blows, deal one death blow
What
though before us lies the open grave?
Like men
we’ll face the murderous cowardly pack
Pressed
to the wall dying but fighting back.
INTRODUCTION
Claude McKay was born in 1890 in Jamaica. He went
to Kansas to study agriculture at the time when Ku Klux Klan was highly active.
He was therefore forced to move to New York in 1914. In 1919 Washington DC
newspaper gave stories of an alleged (suspected) sexual assault that was said
to be committed by an African American. The stories sparked (caused) a series
of twenty riots during the summer of 1919, beginning with white lynch mob
(murderous group) that targeted blacks in Washington. There were 28 public
lynching (killings) in the first half of the year and the following summer and
fall came to be known as “The Red Summer” of 1919. This was the motivation
behind McKay’s “If We Must Die”
He wrote the poem amid the violence and bloodshed
of 1919, and in this poem he encourages his community to take action and fight
back.
THEMATIC
ANALYSIS
SACRIFICE
In the fight against oppression, sacrifice is a
valuable commodity. Few People need to sacrifice their lives so that the
majority may live in peace. In this poem the poet (McKay) calls for actions
against the enemy (foe). However, he shows that the struggle may mean death.
But if they must die, it is better to die fighting so that they may be honoured
later than dying while doing nothing.
He says
If we must die, o let us nobly
die
So that our precious blood may
not be shed
In vain! …
HUMILIATION/TORTURE/OPPRESSION
The poet and his fellow kinsmen go through a series
of torture and mistreatment from their enemy. They are arrested with no reason,
jailed and killed like pigs. This is a situation which affected most African
Americans in the time of racial injustice in America and when “Jim Crow laws” were in effect. The poet
shows the experience they are going through by saying;
If we must die, let it not be
like hogs
Hunted and penned in an
inglorious spot.
While round us bark the mad and
angry dogs
MOTALITY
(DEATH)
Due to this politically charged situation death at
least seems the best thing to help a person sort out what is important in life.
The speaker speaks about death in a more practical sense - he is actually
facing it. It is not the question of whether he will die or what will happen
when he dies it is about how he will meet death. To him death is an opportunity
to show strength, nobility and purpose.
If we must die, o let us nobly
die
So that our precious blood may
not be shed
In vain; then the monsters we
defy
Shall be constrained to honor us
though dead.
AWARENESS.
The persona is aware that they are oppressed by
their whites counterparts. He is also aware that whether they fight or not they
are bound to die one day. So it is noble to die fighting than to die doing
nothing. For him if they die fighting, their enemies will honour them although
they are dead.
What though before us lies the
open grave?
Like men we’ll face the murderous
cowardly pack
Pressed to the wall dying but
fighting back
GUIDING QUESTIONS
a) What
is the poem about?
The poem is about the
torture, humiliation and oppression the people of African origin were suffering
in America and their determination to fight back. The poet shows that it is
noble to die fighting against your enemy than to die doing nothing because
after all we are bound to die someday whether we fight or not.
b) What
type of the poem is this?
It is a sonnet. It is made up of only one stanza with
14 verses.
c) Comment
on the rhyming scheme.
The poem has a regular rhyming scheme that goes;
ABAB CDCD EFEF
GG.
d) What
is the tone and mood of the poem/poet?
The tone is serious and angry and it creates the
hatred mood towards the oppressor.
e) Who
is the persona? How do you know?
The persona is a black American who is oppressed,
humiliated and persecuted. We know this from the history of the poet and the
fact that blacks were hunted, penned (locked in small cells) and killed like
hogs (pigs) in America.
If we must die, let it
not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an
inglorious spot.
While round us bark the
mad and angry dogs
f) What
sufferings does the person experience?
They are hunted (arrested), penned (locked in small cells) with angry
and mad dogs guarding them, and they were killed without fair trial.
g) Is
the persona afraid of death? Give reasons to justify your answer.
The persona is surely not afraid of death. The reasons
for this are;
o
When
you die fighting people will honour you. i.e. it is noble to die fighting. “let us nobly die”
o
Whether
he fights or not, he is bound to die someday. “What though before us lies an open grave?”
h) Comment
on the figures of speech and poetic devices
i. Rhetorical
question
o What
though before us lies an open grave?”
ii.
Metaphor. He compares the enemy/oppressors with the monsters. ‘The monsters we defy’ and “murderous cowardly
pack”
iii. Images
The poet paints the pictures of;
Visual
image. Hogs (pigs) = pigs
are killed mercilessly so they should not die the same death.
Barking
Mad and angry dogs = this is the picture of the
oppressor who guards the Blacks not to escape from punishment.
iv. Symbolism
“An
Open grave” this symbolizes death. Which is to say whether we fight
or not death is there waiting for us. Death
is the ultimate finality of human life.
‘Blood”
is a symbol for
sacrifice
v. Repetition
The phrase “if
we must die” is repeated for emphasis
vi.
Hyperbole. “For their thousand
blows”
vii.
Simile. If we must die let it not be like hogs
viii. Satire/Irony
The poet mocks both the enemy and himself.
“Like men we’ll face the murderous cowardly pack.” He mocks the oppressor that he is coward like a
group of wolves. But how can someone coward press you to the wall dying. He
shows that he is himself weak/inferior to the enemy. Also shows that the enemy
is capable of dealing a thousand death blows but he can deal only one.
i) The
poet calls his enemy “the murderous
cowardly pack” what does that mean?
A pack is a group of dogs or wolves hunting together. He compares the
oppressors as a cowardly pack because the Whites were hunting Africans in
notorious mobs and not individually. This shows that they were coward as well.
j) To
whom is the speaker talking?
The speaker calls for action from his fellow kinsmen (the oppressed) or
more specifically Black-Americans.
“Oh Kinsmen! We must meet our common foe”
k) Is
the poem relevant today?
ü
The
poem is still relevant because oppression, injustice and racial prejudice are
still prevalent in different parts of the world. Awareness, sacrifice and
determination are still needed when it comes to fighting for our rights.
ü
Also
it is very true that those who died fighting during this period of racial
injustice in America are honoured until now in the history of America. Think of
Martin Luther King Jr, and Malcolm X.
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