The Harlem Dancer by Claude McKay Poem Analysis Essay Example

Physical qualities such as body type, look, and complexion are often the first and most essential things that people notice about others in modern society. Inner traits like kindness, honesty, and strength are frequently overlooked while passing judgment on someone. Is a person's physical attractiveness, however, their only beauty? In his poem "The Harlem Dancer," Claude McKay uses contradictions and metaphors to examine and answer this question. McKay accomplishes this by employing contradictions to highlight the differences between the dancer's physical beauty and voice and the nightclub setting in which she works. In contrast to the loud, alcohol-filled setting, McKay employs metaphors to depict the dancer's inner beauty of power and elegance. McKay lastly uses the contrasting views on beauty and the view of the dancer as an object and human to remind people that inner and physical beauty is essential and that there is more to a person than just their appearance. 

Claude McKay uses contradictions to highlight the differences between the dancer's physical beauty and her voice to her surroundings. First, McKay introduces the setting of a nightclub "applauding youths laughed with young prostitutes" (1). By starting the poem with this line, McKay gives readers an instant entry into the setting and the audience of the poem's subject. McKay uses youth twice in the line to show the audience of rowdy young people drinking and watching the dancer. Next, Claude McKay introduces the poem's subject "and watched her perfect, half-clothed body sway" (2). The reference to her is the dancer in the poem's title. McKay introducing her in this way is already showing the emphasis on her physical beauty by the audience. Next, McKay brings in the first contradiction in the poem, "her voice was like the sound of blended flutes" (3). By comparing the dancer's voice with the sound of blended flutes, McKay contrasts her voice with the nightclub's surroundings. Blended flutes are beautiful and usually played in formal settings, contrasting with the loud drink-filled nightclub. McKay compares blended flutes to hint there is more than physical beauty to the dancer. Next, McKay expands the simile of the voice and flutes with "blown by Black players upon a picnic day" (4). McKay uses the line to inform readers that the dancer and the band with her are Black. The line is also used to connect the dancer to her roots and culture as it appears they are singing and dancing to jazz music in the club. The "upon a picnic day" part of the line contrasts with the club setting. People think of a peaceful, bright day when having a picnic, which contradicts the packed and loud club setting. In the first four lines of the poem, McKay sets the nightclub-setting, rowdy young audience, and contrasts the physical beauty with the calm blended nature of the dancer's voice. 

 Claude McKay furthers the physical beauty of the dancer while using metaphors to show her strength and grace. McKay states that "she sang and danced on gracefully and calm" (5). McKay emphasizes the dancer's professional state as she stays calm and graceful despite being half-clothed and surrounded by loud drunk onlookers. McKay gives further details about the inner self of the dancer when saying, "the light gauze hanging loose about her form;" (6). McKay's light gauze hanging loosely on her form reminds readers of the audience's view and focus on the dancer's beauty and her as an object of attraction. In a more profound look, McKay uses the gauze to highlight that the dancer has emotional wounds that stay with her even though she does not show it while performing on stage. McKay uses the gauze to contrast the audience's focus on physical beauty with the inner emotional battle of the dancer. McKay shows appreciation for the dancer's ability to keep professionalism and strength in "to me, she seemed a proudly-swaying palm/ grown lovelier for passing through a storm." (7-8). McKay is separating the speaker, the noun of me in the line, from the other onlookers, as only the speaker can see past the beauty and look closer into the person of the dancer. McKay compares the dancer to a proudly swaying palm, emphasizing the exotic view of her by the audience and the speaker's view of her as strong and flexible to adapt and endure during challenging times. McKay furthers this view as he appreciates and acknowledges her strength to endure and withstand storms while still being graceful and calm. It is vague what type of storm McKay refers to, but based on the poem, one could conclude the storm stands for racism, class, and economic struggles. In lines 5-8, McKay contrasts the audience's view of the dancer as an object of attraction with the speaker's view of her as a strong, calm, and graceful human being. 

Claude McKay expands on this contrast in the poem's last stanza by contrasting the object and human perspectives of the audience and speaker. McKay begins with physical beauty seen by the audience "upon her swarthy neck black shiny curls" (9). McKay focuses on the physical characteristics that attract the audience to the dancer. The dancer is dark-skinned and has shiny black curls showing she has probably faced diversity in life but has a beautiful elegance that attracts people to her. The elegant beauty of the dancer contrasts with her job in the following line. McKay explains, "luxuriant fell; and tossing coins in praise," (10). McKay almost questions how someone so elegant looking like the dancer works in a nightclub. McKay shows readers more to the dancer's story as she does not enjoy being an object of attraction but might have no other choice but to work in the club to get money to survive. McKay explains why the audience cannot see the dancer in the way he can in the club "the wine-flushed, bold-eyed boys, and even the girls, / devoured her shape with eager, passionate gaze;" (11-12). McKay shows that the drinking by the audience clouds their ability to see the dancer as more than just an object to be consumed. McKay furthers their drunken consumption of the dancer with "devoured her shape," emphasizing the onlookers, both females and males, are too eager to devour and consume the physical beauty of the dancer rather than look deeper to see the beauty of the mind and strength of the dancer. Despite the audience's passion, McKay shows their eagerness to consume the dancer as an object of attraction, and entertainment can disturb the dancer and reader. McKay shows how this can affect the dancer with "but looking at her falsely-smiling face, / I knew her self was not in that strange place." (13-14). McKay shows the ability of the speaker to see the pain and unhappiness on the face of the dancer. McKay shows that despite first appearing calm and graceful in her surroundings on stage, the dancer is conflicted in her mind and unhappy with her life. Like McKay says through the speaker, the dancer is not happy as she cannot be herself but must continue this line of work as a Harlem dancer to survive during the economic struggle. McKay uses the last stanza of the poem to highlight the contrasting views of the dancer as a person and object. McKay also uses the last four lines to display and remind readers that there is more than just physical beauty to a person and another side to every story. 

Claude McKay uses contradictions in his poem "Harlem Dancer" to demonstrate the contrast between the drunk young people's views of the dancer as an object and the speaker's human view of her. He also explores the effect one's surroundings have on their mind and body. As a writer, McKay uses his work to compare perceptions of physical and mental beauty from the viewpoint of an audience and the speaker, an individual. The use of contradictions in Claude McKay's poem is used to remind people to consider the physical beauty of an individual and look deeper. By looking beyond the physical appearance, one will see and appreciate the inner strength and endurance of the individual like the speaker does with the Harlem dancer. 

Works Cited

McKay, Claude. "The Harlem Dancer." The Norton Anthology of American Literature, edited by Robert S. Levine et al., Ninth ed., Vol. D: 1914-1945, W. W. Norton & Company, 2017, p. 469.