Claude McKay`s ‘If We Must Die’ is another example of a poem that criticizes racial injustice and gives a voice to those black people who are marginalized by systematic racism. McKay is famously known for his poetry in support of the Black community as he committed himself to fight against racial injustice, and this poem in particular displays the complexities of resistance and racial injustice. He produced his poetry during the Harlem Renaissance period, this period was categorized by an increase in African American literature and art. The sonnet was repurposed in this era to push the reader to think about how language manipulates and to express feelings of outrage and trauma towards social injustices. Thus, using the sonnet to resist controlled formal constraints. Poems during this period closely linked order, control, and violence. McKay made use of the sonnet form as a call to arms, meter, and rhymes for solidarity to resistance and to display the horrible treatment of black Americans by white Americans.
The poem itself was published in July 1919, following the ‘Red Summer’ in the United States. This was a historical period in which violence against the black community reared its head, following growing tensions between the white and black communities, founded on deep-rooted racism. It became clear that the rights of black citizens were met with fierce racism and anti-Black violence. Race riots were incited by the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan organization across America with eighty-three lynchings in 1919 alone. These brutal crimes of racist violence influenced McKay heavily and he took it upon himself to call for unity and resistance in his poem ‘If We Must Die.’
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The simile in the opening of the poem is a direct appeal to his ‘kinsmen,’ to avoid ending up like hogs in a slaughterhouse:
If we must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accursed lot.
('If We Must Die' lines 1-4)
This is a powerful simile in that it directly compares the treatment of black Americans to that of hogs in a slaughterhouse, thus highlighting the brutality of their white oppressors. He is appealing to his people to not allow them to live their lives in pens, waiting to be slaughtered at any given moment. This directly alludes to the oppression and injustice they were facing at the time. It is an urgent plea to black Americans to consider ways in which they can fight back against this fate, he and the black community are not going to allow themselves to be subjected to this brutal and wicked fate, instead, they will protest and fight against it to take control of their lives and deaths. He calls for unity against the dehumanizing treatment by white supremacists. The metaphor highlights that the actions of the oppressors are animalistic and that of mad dogs, emphasizing the brutality of their actions.
Furthermore, ‘If We Must Die’ is written in a fourteen-line Shakespearean sonnet, subsequently, it is structured in the form synonymous with Shakespeare. It is written in three quatrains with one concluding couplet. In ‘If We Must Die,’ McKay uses this traditional form to draw on language and codes of honor, in order to critique the moral compass of the oppressors, questioning what moral codes they must follow to act in this way. ‘If We Must Die’ is a repeated phrase within the poem to highlight not only the inevitability of their death but the idea that McKay wants them to unify and protest to take control of their own fates and deaths. The poem's first eight lines contain two if-then statements that highlight this inevitability of death for the Black community or ‘we,’ as McKay addresses the speaker and the listener. The next four lines are a plea for unity and action, he is emphasizing the idea that they must act in the face of this dehumanizing and brutal behavior, and he is questioning the nature of death. The concluding couplet answers this question, he defines the movement as a collective resistance. McKay ends the poem with the idea of fighting back against the animalistic oppressors as heroic and dignified. Furthermore, the rhyme scheme follows the traditional Shakespearean ABAB CDCD EFEF GG and is written in iambic pentameter, this is to mimic the sounds of marching associated with protests and resistance, further emphasizing the call to arms. McKay rhymes each last work in a sentence with the last word in every other or in the next sentence: blow and foe, brave and grave, pack and back. This is done to strongly emphasize his message to the listener.
Additionally, repetition reiterates McKay`s message of unity and protest to give the marginalized a platform against their racial injustice:
If we must die, O let us nobly die,
So that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the monsters we defy
Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!
('If We Must Die' 5-8)
McKay wants his fellow African Americans to die with dignity and honor, and not like lambs to the slaughter. The phrase ‘If we must die’ is repeated but with the addition of ‘O let us nobly die,’ as he believes they will only die honorably and will be sacrificing themselves for a better future and it will not be meaningless. He is highlighting the idea that if they die, their blood will not be in vain but will secure a future where they are free. He suggests that the oppressors themselves should be in awe of their determination and should honor the sacrifices they are making. He refers to the oppressors as ‘monsters’ to highlight the brutality of the White Americans.
Symbolism within the poem is used to show the sheer violence and barbarity of the enemy. He begins by describing them as ‘mad hungry dogs’ that just mock their prey, insinuating that it was merely rising tensions in the beginning. However, he goes on to describe them as vicious and monstrous animals by the end to highlight their brutality and the violent torture African Americans have been subjected to as a result of racism. By using this symbolism, McKay is directly showing how strongly he feels towards his oppressors to elicit feelings of unity within the Black community and encourage them to protest this oppression.
In conclusion, Claude McKay`s ‘If We Must Die’ uses his poems to give successful voices to those Black Americans marginalized by systematic racism and racial injustice, who otherwise would have remained voiceless.
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