Blog 2 Revisited: A look at the mechanics of how McKay presents his motif

A motif of happiness and turmoil is intertwined throughout the lines in Claude McKay’s, “Harlem Dancer”. In the first paragraph of my second blog entry, I wrote that McKay describes the protagonist as a young, beautiful woman who exudes a feeling of happiness. He employs words that indicate a delicateness and softness about a subject, like “luxuriant” and “sway”. In addition, he portrays the dancer protagonist as a strong person by describing her as a “palm (line 7)”. McKay also appeals to one’s sense of sound by creating a surround sound effect. This is achieved when he writes that the dancer’s voice is like the “sound of blended flutes (line 3)”. Indeed, by indicating a melodious sound, McKay captures the moment of fleeting happiness that he wishes to depict of his seemingly perfect dancer. His diction is very particular and the reader is rendered in awe about her form as she tastefully displays her craft.

            However, in the second paragraph of my blog entry, I wrote that McKay also uses his pinpoint diction to describe the turmoil that permeates through the dancer’s body. This is evidenced in the following excerpt where he describes her personal emotional “storm (line 8)” by presenting “a falsely smiling face” (line 13). The reader is left with a sense of gilded emotions that the dancer presents to the audience. The precise diction is also evident in the use of contrasting words that bring the audience into the turmoil that the dancer experiences. For instance, she is described as a strong “palm”, and yet she has also passed through a “storm”. This contrast illuminates the contrast in the motif of happiness and turmoil in that the dancer is in a “strange place”. Usually, one imagines that a dancer knows her craft well and wants to evoke a certain emotion to the audience. However, this dancer is herself in conflict and is not at ease. This transcends from the dancer to the audience and ultimately, the reader, so that one can also feel the unease. McKay flourishes in crafting this emotional tornado using colorful diction and contrast to highlight his motif of happiness and turmoil.