Will RyanMs. PowersAmerican LiteratureApril 7, 2014Analysis of "If We Must Die"To analyze a poem like Claude McKay's "If We Must Die," you must first understand the context of the writing. At the time of its creation, the Red Summer of 1919 was occurring. It was a revitalization of anti-racist sentiments that swept across the United States, and the period was characterized by an increase in hate crimes against African-American communities. Casualties included dozens dead, hundreds injured, and the burning of over a thousand black-owned homes. Claude McKay, being a militant civil rights advocate, used this poem to encourage the black community to fight back against these attacks. For starters, the title reads “If We Must Die.” McKay repeats this phrase twice throughout the poem, showing that it was selected intentionally. Set up the speaker as a first-person narrative using the word “we.” By saying “he must die,” McKay alludes to his and his group's (presumably African-American given his history) inevitable and inevitable demise. Since the title is not a complete statement, it can be assumed that the rest of the poem serves to complete the statement. It serves to entice the audience to continue reading through the solemn tone it conveys, as well as the suspense through the statement left in the middle. The first line of the poem reads, “If we must die, let them not be like pigs” (McKay 1). By saying “they must die”, McKay once again underlines how their death cannot be avoided, and is a certainty. However, through the second half of the statement, “let him not be like pigs,” he is saying that although they cannot control their final destiny, they can choose how to deal with it. Instead of dying weak, d... middle of paper... a thousand blows deliver a mortal blow!” (10-11). He uses this metaphor to demonstrate that while those against Black Americans may attack them numerous times, if Black people could unite and fight back just once, it could be a potential game-changer in terms of interracial equality and respect. So he tells his readers: "As men we will face the murderous and cowardly pack, cornered, dying, but fighting back!" (McKay 13-14). In contrast to his original metaphor that they are pigs, McKay now turns the tables and tells them that they are not pigs but men, and that the previously "hungry" and "crazy" racists have now been reduced to "murderous" but "cowardly ”. , proving that they can be beaten. McKay knows he and his cause may not win in the end, but that will never stop him from fighting what he knows is wrong, and that's his final argument..