No one knows precisely when or how they are going to die. Very few people can say they looked death in the face and have ever been prepared for it. Having bravery when you are dying for something you believe in till the last breath shows honor. This poem was written with the motivation to reflect solely on The Red Summer of 1919. In the poem "If We Must Die," Claude Mckay discusses how life is unfair as an African American and that unfairness can lead to death in nobility to his enemies.
Claude starts this poem in the scene with being under attack and not wanting to die as hogs in line "If we must die, let it not be like hogs" (line 1). This metaphor shows how the speaker uses diction through the word "hogs" because this is how whites dehumanized African Americans, treating them as greasy, dirty, and worthless pigs. Claude uses imagery with the lines, "Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot / While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs / making their mock at our accursed lot" (lines 1-3). Claude explains how even though blacks were pinned against a wall being teased and mocked, they were still willing to lose without a fight.
In the second stanza, Claude sets a positive outlook on his awaiting death. In these specific lines, "If we must die, O let us nobly die / So that our precious blood may not be shed" (lines 5-6), he explains that he if he has to die, let it be for a purpose. He believes that his life is "preci...
