My favorite McKay poem was The Tropics in New York. This poem really trapped me in. It almost seemed as though he was having a flashback. Many men who have gone to war have flashbacks when they see something horrific. My thoughts was maybe he saw the way that the blacks and immigrants were being treated and he had to have sort of a mental relapse to the old days. It was part of him escaping.
I like how he used illiteration about the "dewy dawns, and mystical blue skies." I also liked how it really started off as though he was calm and serine but it ended as how he longs for the old days back in Jamica. The dramatic ending where he is left weeping really was the deciding factor on why I felt this was a flashback.
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I enjoyed the poem, The Tropics of New York as well. I tended to like all of McKay’s poems that dealt with the contrast between Jamaica and the United States. Your idea that this poem is about a flashback that McKay had is a very interesting take on it. I agree that this poem may have something to do with McKay reflecting on the treatment of African Americans in the United States. He was able to remember his home in Jamaica which allowed him to escape into the memories. The ending of the poem then brings McKay crashing down as he seems to snap out of his daydream of Jamaica and back into reality.
I enjoyed Tropics of New York as well. You made a good point about how he may have been having flash backs about the treatment of blacks. I thought he described the treatment of blacks in other stories and poems as well. In Reapers, he describes the work that the reapers are doing in the fields. He adds how a rat was killed and how no one stopped, they kept working. In this poem, he was describing the work African Americans had to do and their work ethic. I think indirectly this poem shows the treatment of African Americans and how they obeyed their owners and worked non-stop.
I liked your observation that in writing about his home in the British West Indies is a chance for McKay to escape the life he dreads in the United States. However, there are still times when he claims that he enjoys the United States -- that he "loves this cultured hell" -- so this leads me to the conclusion that McKay, much like the other writers we have read in this course so far, is extremely conflicted as an individual. Just like the narrator in "Autobiography..." McKay doesn't really know where he fits in and whether to stay in the United States and try to make a living with his writing or return to his warm, sunny home where he knows he has friends and acceptance. I wonder why McKay decided to stay in the United States?
Your idea of McKay experiencing a flashback fits perfectly into the poem, The Tropics in New York. I do wish that McKay continued writing so as the readers we could understand why he remained in the United States because it is such a puzzling question. Obviously there must have been something that kept him here or kept him from returning to Jamaica, we are just clueless as to what it was.
I enjoyed reading this poem over many of the other ones that we had to read. I like it because the mood is full emotion but good emotion of remembering Jamaica even though in the end he is sad he is probably happy that he has good things and times to remember. I also liked the illiterations it like paints you picture of what Jamaica is like when he was there.
I think of the poem as a flashback in which he uses his memories to escape from the present. I think we all do that in times of crisis. It is very hard to dwell on the negative and we wish that times would fix themselves, so we reflect to find a way to fix it. Sometimes the answers to our problems are found in memories of the past.
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