Essay on Usage of the Outsider Theme in Claude McKays...

Usage of the Outsider Theme in Claude McKays Poetry Claude McKay was an important figure during the 1920s in the Harlem Rennaisance. Primarily a poet, McKay used the point of view of the outsider as a prevalent theme in his works. This is best observed in such poems as Outcast, America, and The White House. In these poems, McKay portrays the African-American as the outsiderof western society and its politics and laws and at times, the very land that he is native to. McKayss poem, Outcast, is the most obvious example of this outsider theme. From the title to the last line there are many references to a feeling of alienation and neglect. The voice in the poem longs for the dim regions whence my fathers came. The†¦show more content†¦This feeling of aliention is even further revealed in later lines where he must walk the way of life a ghost among the sons of earth, a thing apart. This line best exemplifies the plight of the African-American feeling removed from home and lost even in the western civilization he is forced to adopt. McKays Outcast is the poem which the outsider theme is most apparent. It creates a bleak yet vivid picture of the alienation to which the African-American is subjected. America is another poem written by McKay that reveals the outsider theme of the Negro in America. McKay voices his love/hate relationship with America in this poem. He states that she sinks into my throat her tigers tooth, stealing my breath of life. He does however confess I love this cultured hell that tests my youth! Her vigor flows like tides into my blood giving me strength erect against her hate. This line indicates that while he struggles as an American, it is America that keeps him going; that she gives him life even as she sucks it away. McKay is saying that he loves America not so much as an American but as an outsider that needs the test to live and become stronger. Another example of the theme of alientation is in the line Yet as a rebel fronts a king in state I stand within her walls. McKay is once again using the point of view of the outsider rather than someone that really feels American. This poem isShow MoreRelated Visions of The Primitive in Langston Hughesà ¢â‚¬â„¢s The Big Sea Essay examples6201 Words   |  25 Pagesdid Conrad or India did Kipling: as an alien territory, forbidden, dangerous yet compelling in its intensity. It is ironic that this very conception of Harlem was one of the key reasons why it was overrun and exploited by sensation-seeking white outsiders. Hughes makes implicit comparisons between the colonial despoliation of African natural resources and the whites’ frivolous engagement with Harlem’s â€Å"exotic† cabaret nightlife in the 1920s. Hughes’s gesture of throwing his own personal collection