things fall apart
Claude McKay was a poet during the Harlem Renaissance. Like other poets of the time, he expressed his poems in a cooperative message of the ideal African-American freedom. In this sonnet, known as “If we must die”, McKay illustrates a plan for the captive people of the world to find freedom in their situation. In this particular sonnet, Claude McKay raises a question to the suffering people of the world. He basically asks if a man must die, can he die respectively and honorably. The answer to that question is yes. Even if death is inevitable, there is a possible lifestyle that will make your life live on after your death. McKay says that by living a courageous life and not fearing death, fighting those that oppress you, you can even live on in the memories of your enemies.