In Harlem Shadows, Claude McKay shows how young women were force into a life of prostitution. These women were the unlucky ones who could not make enough money to support themselves. They move from street to street all through and receive no rest until day break. As McKay is observing was going on he sees lass of innocent children who have lost their purity and halting their footsteps to bend and barter at desire's call. McKay feels sorry for these children because he knows this is a bad situation to be in. McKay calls the girls feet “slippered” which means they moving from one bed to the next to make a daily wage before daybreak. In last stanza the stern, harsh, wretched world turns its back and ignoring the plight of young girls who are forced to endure poverty while also earning dishonor and disgrace in return. McKay hates that he sees his race living a life of prostitution and his heart goes out each one of the girls living to see a better day.
(Aauzsa Mack)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Siran on how McKay seen the girls and sympathized with them. Because it was true in the time period at which the poem was written that there were many hard times that pushed the young women into prostitution just to get by. Instead of McKay preying over the girls as he watch he is just capturing their pain and turning it into words so that the world could see that not all the times were good in Harlem, that there were also bad times. McKay goes into depth when he describe the lifestyle that the girls is in and he make a note that they are not grown women but adolescences and young ladies that have been pushed into this lifestyle. They had to grow up before their time. GOOD JOB SIRAN!!!
I liked Siran and Mack's opionion on this poem. It is a very sad situation to see this type of lifestyle. It was particuarly painful for Mckay because he is saying that these are his race of people and it upsets him to see how things have gotten for some people. He is letting the reader know that not everything is good in Harlem. Not many people would know what these young girls are doing and how they would dishonor themselves by selling their bodies just for money. It is as if they have no pride at all and it hurts the narrator to see what has become of these young ladies.
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