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Literature 111

In the poem America by Claude McKay, it deals with a man coming to U.S. society and seeing how different it is from his home country, and the troubles of different cultures, race, and class.

In the poem America by Claude McKay, it deals with a man coming to U.S. society and seeing how different it is from his home country, and the troubles of different cultures, race, and class. In this poem, the speaker comes to America and notices it is much different from his home country. He sees this new country as a predator at first, due to his suffering of the shifting cultures, from the one that he is used to, to this new one. The speaker states America as a “cultured hell” as he continues on to adjusting to this new place he starts to overcome the struggle, he gains strength from this what he sees as a challenge, he gains life from America. He isn’t scared, he shows courage because he realizes he can adjust easily, although he does not disrespect this new place. In the poem “America” the speaker comes to this new society from his home country and sees that things are different. He is very threatened by this new country, he feels like something is out to get him. He is very worried that this country will tear him apart. He has his guards up in case anything bad happens; he is ready to defend himself. The new country is dominant to him, he is inferior to the new customs that this country has in store. He will have to make quick adjustments in order to keep up with the way that this county works. The speaker of this story feels alone, and weak when leaving his homeland and coming to America. He left what he knows behind; walking blind through this new place and feeling scared of all the new situations. He has to adjust to these cultures, which he isn’t too happy about. The poem expresses a negative tone, negative coming from the speaker of not feeling welcome to a new land. The poem expresses that this new land, compared to another place is
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