A Rhetorical Analysis of Claude McKays Africa

A Rhetorical Analysis of Claude McKay's Africa In this critical essay, student Heather Glover offers a concise rhetorical analysis of the sonnet Africa by Jamaican-American writer Claude McKay. McKays poem originally appeared in the collection Harlem Shadows (1922). Heather Glover composed her essay in April 2005 for a course in rhetoric at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Georgia. For definitions and additional examples of the rhetorical terms mentioned in this essay, follow the links to our Glossary of Grammatical Rhetorical Terms. Africas Loss of Grace by Heather L. Glover Africa1 The sun sought thy dim bed and brought forth light,2 The sciences were sucklings at thy breast;3 When all the world was young in pregnant night4 Thy slaves toiled at thy monumental best.5 Thou ancient treasure-land, thou modern prize,6 New peoples marvel at thy pyramids!7 The years roll on, thy sphinx of riddle eyes8 Watches the mad world with immobile lids.9 The Hebrews humbled them at Pharaohs name.10 Cradle of Power! Yet all things were in vain!11 Honor and Glory, Arrogance and Fame!12 They went. The darkness swallowed thee again.13 Thou art the harlot, now thy time is done,14 Of all the mighty nations of the sun. Keeping with Shakespearean literary tradition, Claude McKay’s â€Å"Africa† is an English sonnet relating the short but tragic life of a fallen heroine. The poem opens with a lengthy sentence of paratactically arranged clauses, the first of which states, â€Å"The sun sought thy dim bed and brought forth light† (line 1). Referencing scientific and historical discourses on humanity’s African origins, the line alludes to Genesis, in which God brings forth light with one command. The adjective dim demonstrates Africa’s unlighted knowledge prior to God’s intervention and also connotes the dark complexions of Africa’s descendants, unspoken figures whose plight is a recurrent subject in McKay’s work. The next line, â€Å"The sciences were sucklings at thy breasts,† establishes the poem’s female personification of Africa and lends further support to the cradle of civilization metaphor introduced in the first line. Mother Africa, a nurturer, raises and encourages the â€Å"sciences,† actions that foreshadow another brightening of the world to come in the Enlightenment. Lines 3 and 4 also evoke a maternal image with the word pregnant, but return to an indirect expression of the African and African-American experience: â€Å"When all the world was young in pregnant night / Thy slaves toiled at thy monumental best.† A subtle nod to the difference between African servitude and American slavery, the lines complete an encomium of Africa’s success before the advent of â€Å"new peoples† (6). While McKay’s next quatrain does not take the drastic turn reserved for the final couplet in Shakespearean sonnets, it clearly indicates a shift in the poem. The lines transform Africa from enterprise’s champion to its object, thereby placing the Mother of Civilization into an antithetically lower position. Opening with an isocolon that stresses Africa’s changing positionâ€Å"Thou ancient treasure-land, thou modern prize†the quatrain continues to demote Africa, placing agency in the hands of â€Å"new peoples† who â€Å"marvel at thy pyramids† (5-6). As the cliched expression of rolling time suggests the permanency of Africa’s new condition, the quatrain concludes, â€Å"thy sphinx of riddle eyes / Watches the mad world with immobile lids† (7-8). The sphinx, a mythical creature often used in caricatures of Egyptian Africa, kills anyone who fails to answer its difficult riddles. The image of a physically and intellectually challenging monster risks undermining the gradual degradation of Africa that is the poem’s theme. But, if unpacked, McKay’s words reveal his sphinx’s lack of power. In a demonstration of anthimeria, the word riddle acts not as a noun or verb, but as an adjective that invokes the sense of perplexity usually associated with riddles or to riddle. The sphinx, then, does not invent a riddle; a riddle makes a confused sphinx. The â€Å"immobile lids† of the dazed sphinx frame eyes that do not detect the mission of the â€Å"new people; the eyes do not move back and forth to keep the strangers in constant sight. Blinded by the activity of the â€Å"mad world,† a world both busy and crazed with expansion, the sphinx, Africa’s representative, fails to see its imminent destru ction. The third quatrain, like the first, begins by retelling a moment of Biblical history: â€Å"The Hebrews humbled them at Pharaoh’s name† (9). These â€Å"humbled people† differ from the slaves mentioned in line 4, proud slaves that â€Å"toiled at thy monumental best† to construct an African heritage. Africa, now without the spirit of her youth, succumbs to a lowly existence. After a tricolonic list of attributes linked with conjunctions to convey the magnitude of her former excellenceâ€Å"Cradle of Power! [†¦] / Honor and Glory, Arrogance and Fame!†Africa is undone with one short, plain phrase: â€Å"They went† (10-12). Lacking the elaborate style and obvious devices contained throughout the poem, â€Å"They went† powerfully understates Africa’s demise. Following the pronouncement is another declarationâ€Å"The darkness swallowed thee again†that connotes discrimination of Africans based upon their skin color and th e failure of their â€Å"dark† souls to reflect the light offered by the Christian God in line 1. In a final blow to Africa’s once shining image, the couplet offers a scathing description of her present state: â€Å"Thou art a harlot, now thy time is done, / Of all the mighty nations of the sun† (13-14). Africa thus seems to fall on the wrong side of the virgin mother/tainted whore dichotomy, and the personification formerly used to sing her praises now condemns her. Her reputation, however, is saved by the couplet’s inverted syntax. If the lines read â€Å"Of all the mighty nations of the sun, / Thou art the harlot, now thy time is done,† Africa would be rendered a wayward woman worthy of scorn because of her licentiousness. Instead, the lines state, â€Å"Thou art the harlot, [†¦] / Of all the mighty nations of the sun.† The couplet suggests that Europe and America, nations enjoying the Son and the â€Å"sun† because they are predominantly Christian and scientifically advanced, pimped Africa in their quests to own her. In a clever positioning of words, then, McKay’s Africa does not fall from grace; grace is snatched from Africa. Work Cited McKay, Claude. Africa.† Harlem Shadows: The Poems of Claude McKay. Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1922. 35.

Anecdote Anecdotal Evidence

Anecdote Anecdotal Evidence Definition: An Anecdote is a narrative told from the point of view of an observer. Anecdotal evidence is considered unreliable and is seldom acceptable as a means to validate an educational method or technique. Still, anecdotal evidence can be helpful when assessing a student, especially a student with behavioral issues. A starting point for a behavioral intervention is anecdotes, especially anecdotes collected by several different observers. Sometimes those anecdotes are written in an ABC form, or Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence, a way in which the function of the behavior can often be identified. By observing the events or setting of the behavior being observed, by describing the behavior and figuring out the consequence, or benefit the student receives. Problems with Anecdotes Sometimes observers are subjective, rather than objective. Learning to observe the topography of a behavior without making any judgments about the behavior is often difficult, since culturally we tend to freight certain behaviors with meaning that may not actually be part of the behavior. It may be important that the person assessing the student begin with an operational definition of the behavior so all observers are clear what they are looking for. It is also important to train observers to name certain behaviors explicitly. They may say that a student stuck his or her foot out. They may say it appears that they did it in order to trip another student, so it could be aggression, but you dont want to say John intentionally tripped Mark unless John tells you it was intentional. Multiple observers do, however, give you varied points of view, which may be helpful if you use an ABC format for your observations. Discerning the function of a behavior is one of the principal reasons for collecting anecdotal evidence, although discerning what is objective and what is subjective is often challenging. Figuring out which anecdotes are influenced by prejudice or expectation will help cull valuable information. Parents anecdotes will provide information, but may be shaped by some denial. Also Known As: Observation, narrative observation Examples: As Mr. Johnson began to plan for the Functional Behavioral Analysis he needed to do for Roberts disruptive behavior, he reviewed a number of anecdotal reports that were in his file from content area classes.