Claude McKay's "White Houses" and the eternal strength of "The New Negro"

    Claude McKay's poem "White Houses" resonates with the stories in "The Warmth of Other Suns" for it addresses the everlasting discipline and enduring strength of the Negro. In McKay's poem he reverses the negativity of the Negro plight to a source of strength. He argues that  the need for "superhuman power/ to hold me to the letter of your law!" elevates the Negro, as a noble sufferer, drawing an immeasureable amount of strength to survive in a world that isn't even human (Locke, 134). He must be "Super-human" to endure the "law" of white society. Consequently, the strength of the Negro's endurance is beyond human ability, its noble, divine, heroic.  McKay suggests that his strength and self-restraint is a divine battle. Later he claims, that he must save his own heart from the "potent poison of your hate" arguing that it is his heart that is pure, and ultimately must be protected from the villainousness poison of white society( Locke, 134).  Here he is honoring the element of patience, reserve, and self-restraint in black folk who have endured the poisons of white society, and still wait, hopping for something better. This motif of patience and endurance for something better is seen throughout "The Warmth of Other Suns" as each character silently endures their sacrifices though an internal rebellion. Although Robert Joseph Pershing Foster is overqualified and smarter than his peers, there continues to be a narrative of sacrifice throughout his story. However, there is a power within this sacrifice, because it occurs within as certain knowledge and hope, of a larger collective gain. And in doing that they are undercutting the white power structure through the strategic methods of their deceit. In "Beginnings" Pershing fights his way into the job market that discriminates against him two-fold. Firstly because he's a man of color, and secondly he's educated, which makes him a double threat to the white foremen hiring him. Yet he needs a job to continue school, and establish a career. The invisible hand seems to be at work again. However, Pershing finds a way through these restrictions and works despite the foreman's refusal to hire him. He commits a level of endurance and sacrifice for his greater dream of medicine, and comments on this experience by saying,  "Sometimes you have to stoop to conquer" (Wilkerson, 117). Therefore, in both McKay's poem and Pershing's experience, there is a narrative of suffering for the self, and suffering for the greater good of one's people. And, of course, not implying that the suffering is neither justified nor right, but rather a part of a choice, within one's own agency, to empower oneself, and take the necessary actions to do so. Both stories reflect a determined and shining light within the "New Negro" that takes his reality and transforms it into a process of endurance, strength, hardening oneself, to be a survivor.
   This is crucial. because if asserts a certain agency within suffering. One is not simply suffering and oppressed passively, but rather planning and plotting to be something great, something better than the "poison" around him. This asserts not only a positive self image, but a better self image, better than the abuse around him, and better than the abusers around him. In short it makes the Negro spirit indestructible. It turns is suffering into fuel against his oppressors, and even more importantly, instills a hope for something brighter within himself. Both texts illustrate an autonomous shift, not only for the Negro to separate himself from the world around him, but to position himself above it, and that is a beautifully strong and inspiring narrative.