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Oppression is found all over the world in today’s day and age. It is the root cause of many of the world’s fundamental, ongoing conflicts. There are many definitions of oppression, but all of them are saying the same thing in essence. Oppression is “the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner” and “the feeling of being heavily burdened, mentally or physically, by troubles, adverse conditions, anxiety, etc.” It can be based on many factors such as an individual’s race, ethnicity, sexuality, physical appearance, and age. It takes place in society and is often imposed upon a certain group by another group or in some cases, the government.
Racism and oppression seem to have always lingered in the West, specifically in America. The poem “America” by Claude Mckay, this poem shares the struggles of being a black man in the 1920s. This poem showed how oppression made him stronger rather than brought him down. This poem focuses on the idea of facing your difficulties and fighting through them. The poet talks about how he felt oppressed by his country “America” and how he was treated badly, but he will continue to love “her” for giving him power and strength. The author portrays his experiences around racism and how he fought through racism and stayed strong. I believe this poem is an example for other individuals that oppression takes place around the world but rather than letting it slowly kill you why not fight through it and get through them which makes you stronger? At the beginning of this poem, McKay uses an oxymoron to portray how the individual feels about America. He states, “Although she feeds me bread of bitterness”. He introduces personification as well by comparing “America” women. This clearly portrays the love and hate-relationship he has with the country. This shows the reader that even though it’s a bread of bitterness at least “America” is feeding him rather than starving him. It could be seen as the speaker is dependent on America for his bread similar to how a child depends on his mother for nourishment. But even though America is his source of life, it is still bitter. This could also portray the unjust treatment that was taking place at that time regarding equal rights for African Americans, but at that time no matter how hard they tried they would never be considered equal, they always had to work harder for what they wanted. McKay also states, “And sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth, Stealing my breath of life, I will confess” (2-3). This shows the unfair treatment of African Americans and how it slowly started killing them. In the next few lines of the poem, McKay introduced another side that no one would have expected, “I love this cultured hell that tests my youth!”. He started with intense negative feelings towards America, he now starts to signify the positive aspects of America and how he can fight through them. Throughout this whole poem, as I said before, McKay signifies the man’s love and hate relationship with America and that even though oppression was a huge part of it he fought through it.
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