Analysis of My Analysis of McKay's Motifs

In my previous blog post, my thesis would be: McKay’s “The Harlem Dancer” is about the multi-faceted personality of the Harlem dancer.

           

My thesis about McKay’s “The Harlem Dancer” is about the multi-faceted personality of the Harlem dancer. I begin by introducing the motif of doubling. My first paragraph introduces the idea of doubling in the word usage of the poem and the second transitions to the doubling in the prostitute’s personality in the poem.

           

Because my first paragraph is about the motif of doubling in the word use of the poem, I point out all of the plural words that are present. In the first part of my first paragraph, I introduce a theme of what the plural words describe – joyful, peaceful, and happy times. I support this observation with the plural words that indicate this, “applauding youths” and “young prostitutes”(1). Though young prostitutes does not necessarily indicate any joy or peace, I further support it with my next sentence and show how they are joined together by the words “laughing together”(1). My third piece of evidence continues with more plural words in the next lines, “blended flutes”(3) and “black players upon a picnic day”(4). I explain the implications of this next piece of evidence and the imagery that it provides. Lastly, in my final pieces of evidence, “black shiny curls”(9) and “coins… / The wine-flushed…bold-eye boys…girls”(10, 11), I continue to support the theme of how the plurals provide doubling and shows one possible side of the prostitute’s personality.

However, after discussing the plural word usage in the poem and how it represents the theme of joy and peace, I introduce the motif of doubling in the prostitute’s personality in. I begin with a transition into the doubling in the prostitute’s personality in my first sentence.  Next, I introduce my interpretation of McKay’s usage of “devoured”(12) and why I think that the word devoured is a turning point. After a short explanation, I provide another piece of evidence, “falsely smiling face”(13), that continues to support my previous analysis and observation. Through these two pieces of evidence, I explain my interpretations and connect the motif of doubling from both the usage of plurals and the turning point to show the multiple facets of the prostitute’s personality.

McKay's Motifs

In McKay’s poem, “The Harlem Dancer”, an important motif is doubling. The motif of doubling applies to the nouns that he describes; they are plurals. Using words that are plural, he paints a picture of good things like joyful times, peace, and harmony. The first line itself contains two plurals: the applauding youths and the young prostitutes. The youths applaud and laugh together, seemingly without worries. In the third and fourth lines, McKay continues to use doubling in his words, “blended flutes” and “black players upon a picnic day”, that indicate times of joy. In addition to a picture of joyful times with black players playing flutes on a picnic day, the voice of the prostitute sounding like blended flutes implies harmony and peace. He continues by describing the  “black shiny curls on her neck” in like 9; the black curls give the impression that the prostitute fancily dressed up. Coins, wine-flushed boys and girls are all in multiples; they also add to the setting of a joyous party.

            Although the motif of doubling is applied in the actual words McKay uses in the form of plurals, another form of doubling is in the prostitute’s personality. McKay reveals this through a turning point in line 12 with the word “devoured”. Prior to this line, the words that were plural have given good connotations and have given a sense of goodness, even giving a sense of some sort of party between the prostitutes and the boys and girls. However, McKay’s use of “devoured” is very powerful and completely changes the tone. Though “devoured” can be used with a neutral connotation, in this sentence, it seems to carry a negative connotation. To me, it conjures images of wild dogs and cats fighting over the last shred of meat on the bones of road kill. In addition to “devoured”, McKay also describes to us her “falsely smiling face”. When this is revealed to us, we are shown a different type of doubling; it is one that shows that there are multiple facets to the prostitute’s personality. Though there are many happy ideas presented before “devoured”, they are all offset by the fact that the prostitute has a dual personality. The motif of doubling is one that is very obvious throughout the poem, expressed through both the words that are plural and through the prostitute’s personality.

Sonnets and Spenser

            The sonnet form, unlike a novel or a tweet, has a structure that is rigid and usually has a theme of love. Sonnets try to solve problems. Though there are some differences between the sonnet, the novel, and the tweet, they share similarities as well. All three forms seek to tell a story, usually in a sequence. The tweet, similar to a sonnet, provides short sequential snapshots into the author’s life. However, tweets are informal and can be quick to write. Novels are also like sonnets in the sense that they try to tell a story, but unlike sonnets, novelists are given more elaborate upon details. In their different forms, sonnets, tweets, and novels definitely come with different expectations. The tone, format, content are different, but the similarity they all share is the ability to tell a story.

            In “Sonnet 75”, Spenser uses the sonnet form to express a problem. His use of the words “Not so” in line 9 and “but” in line 10, along with the couplet at the end of the sonnet gives a sense of a solution or end to the problem that he poses in the beginning. In his sonnet, he tells of how his unrelenting profession of love is rejected time and time again by his lover. However, he does not give up and he chooses a different path: to “write her name in the heavens”. He informs us that he does not choose rejection in his words in line 9 and 10. In the couplet, he explains that in the heavens, death is “subdew” and his love shall live and be renewed. As he explains, his love will live. My interpretation is that he is saying that his love will live forever, as he says “later life renew”. There is a sense of end here, but it is not one that just stops. It is one that has hope in the future where his love will be renewed.