“The White City” written by Claude McKay depicts the issues and conflicts based in the 1920s and 30s regarding race. Although slavery had ended in 1865 there was still a sense of tension between the African American and Caucasian American peoples during the 20th century. The piece itself is justified, triumphant, and spiteful, in the point of view of the African American civilian during the beginning of segregation in the 1920s.
The rebellion and pride found between both African Americans and Caucasian Americans began to dramatically clash after the first World War. Claude McKay speaks of the negativity that is being produced by both African Americans and White civilians during this time, he writes:
I will not toy with it nor bend an inch.
Deep in the secret chambers of my heart
I muse my life-long hate, and without flinch
I bear it nobly as I live my part.
My being would be a skeleton, a shell,
If this dark Passion that fills my every mood,
And makes my heaven in the white world’s hell,
Did not forever feed me vital blood.
I see the mighty city through a mist—
The strident trains that speed the goaded mass,
The poles and spires and towers vapor-kissed,
The fortressed port through which the great ships pass,
The tides, the wharves, the dens I contemplate,
Are sweet like wanton loves because I hate.
The author uses many different juxtapositions in order to convey his emotions, one being; “And makes my heaven in the white world’s hell”. By stating that the white world is