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Analysis of the poem If We Must Die by Claude McKay 1889-1948
The poem If We Must Die was written in 1889-1948, the era of The Red Summer in
1919. This era was a period of the rise of hate crime, race riots, and violence toward black
community.1 So, this poem represents the black man community who want to show their brave
and want to be respected as a true man. They want to be considered as a part of universal
community, they also want to show that their existence is meaningful, not useless.
To analyze If We Must Die, the researchers use theory of Masculinity especially Black
Masculinity because the researchers try to relate it with the time background of the poem. Black
masculinity is the opposition of white masculinity. This oppositional may come up because of the
slavery case in that certain period when white people underestimate their position. As for the
assumption of black masculinity identity are: struggle in human activity, done by community,
and exist because of the spirit of social; history; culture.2
There are evidences in the poem that support the issue of black masculinity like the
chosen of the word, and the connotation meaning. First, the use of pronoun we, us, and
Kinsmen instead of I and me show the characteristic identity of black community which
mostly has done by group or community. Second, line thirteen means that man is brave to face
the problems even death or murderous but as a human being not an animal like hog and dog
(line1 and2). In other word, they want to be appreciated as a human because their community
ever felt how slavery was mocked them. Third, over all the poem talks about how to die with
honor, they fight honorable as the representation of masculinity. In line five, there is clearly
conveyed, if we must die, O let us nobly die. This means that when they die, they do not want to
leave any kinds of badness. This line looks masculine because this conveys that a man must be
responsible toward what they do. They should solve their problems bravely. In the last lines,

1 Surber, Katie. If We Must Die By Claude McKay: Summary, Theme & Analysis.
Study.com. 2003. Web. March 7th 2015. <http://study.com/academy/lesson/if-wemust-die-by-claude-mckay-summary-theme-analysis.html>
2 Jackson, Ronald L. Scripting the Black Masculine Body: Identity, Discourse, and
Racial Politics in Popular Media (Suny Series, the negotiation of Identity). London:
Suny Press. 2006. Google books. Web. March 7, 2015. <https://books.google.co.id>

like men well face the murderous cowardly pack, pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!
This delivers a message that man must be able to work hard and face the challenge.