If we must Die analysis

 Gabrielle Dangler

  6th hour

   6-7-2012

                                                       If We Must Die Analysis

     I b elieve I have mentioned before that I am not a fan of Poetry reading. The poem If we must Die is an excellent example of why. Being a teenager I feel I have a built in tolerance for certain amounts of drama, however this poem just seems to have too much for me. I get it, Claude McKay is very passionate, and this is a major theme. I would seem heartless if I were to say that I did not care. I’m not saying I have absolutely no care; I am just not interested or engaged by this poem. Well that being said, how about we get down to the dissecting!

        You don’t have to look very hard to understand what this poem is about. (No I am not going to say that it is about death don’t worry.) It is a message on the unjust way that people… African-Americans to be specific are treated. It screams that they want an honorable death… and of course that would mean an equal standing in life would it not? I do understand that there was a lot of death during the times of slavery and people were being treated like animals when they die and it was unjust. I understand a feeling of rage this would instill in a writer… or anyone for that matter. The overall theme however, is still tied back to equality and the unjust treatment of people… again African Americans to be specific.