Analisis terhadap Dua Puisi Penyair Amerika Claude McKay: Penelusuran SelukBeluk Kekuasaan Ras

• Main Author: Gindho Rizano
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Jurusan Bahasa Inggris Politeknik Negeri Padang 2018-03-01
• Series: Journal Polingua: Scientific Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Education
• Subjects: american literature; poetry; racism; class; claude mckay; critical theory
• Online Access: http://polingua.org/index.php/polingua/article/view/11

This article discusses two representative poems by a famous African-American writer, Claude Mckay. It seeks to interpret the poems, “If We Must Die” and “Enslaved”, which both explore the issues racism and mental slavery, in the light of political approaches such as Marxist criticism and postcolonialism. The main findings of this article are: 1) that racism and violence that it entails are rooted in class conflict and 2) that McKay’s poems can be seen as a counter-hegemony of the ethnocentricity of white culture. Generally, it is hoped that this writing can promote historical and political readings of minority poets like Claude McKay.