The Harlem Dancer

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1917

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

Palm

The palm tree grows in tropical climates and has a highly flexible trunk that can withstand high winds, even those of hurricane force. In McKay’s poem, the speaker equates the dancer’s resilience with the palm tree, but the tree may enhance other elements of the poem as well. In ancient Greece, palm fronds traditionally represent triumph and were once used as prizes for victorious athletes. One can see the dancer as also triumphing over her situation, winning her challenge not to succumb to the audience’s vision of herself. In ancient Egypt, palms were seen in a slightly different way. They were symbolic of immortality. This was used similarly by early Christians who had the palm represent the triumph of the spirit over the flesh. The dancer, too, keeps her “self” (Line 14) separate from her “body” (Line 1) which is ogled by the audience. In this way, she protects her soul from the taint of the “passionate gaze” (Line 12) of others’ lust.

Coins

The audience “toss[es] coins” (Line 10) at the dancer after she performs. As with many of McKay’s images, this action can symbolize contradictory things. Like a busker, the dancer performs for a meager subsistence and is reliant on what comes across as pitiful charity. The audience treats her like a trained “animal,” throwing money as if she were inside a cage instead of treating her civilly. In an economic reading, this shows how little those with money care for those they exploit. This type of payment aligns the dancer with sex workers who accompany the young men in the audience. They, too, sell their bodies for payment. Both commodify sexuality. Yet, the coins are, simultaneously, thrown out “in praise” (Line 10), seeming to suggest a contradictory image. This may be an offering or tribute to the dancer, who acts as a sort of modern goddess deserving of worship. The dancer’s ability to mesmerize the crowd, her effortless grace, and her “light gauze” (line 6) costume add to this equation of her as a mythical goddess.

Strange Place

At the end of the poem, the dancer has mentally removed “her self […] [from] that strange place” (Line 14). This concluding phrase may indicate the club itself, Harlem, or even the United States more broadly. For the dancer, the club in Harlem may feel strange due to its white clientele and/or if its white owners purposefully exploit the dancer as an “exotic” exhibit. “Strange” (Line 14) could also describe a club that catered to an integrated audience, which rarely existed in public spheres due to laws at the time. Also, depending on where the dancer was from, the urbanity of Harlem itself might have been disconcerting. Possibly, like McKay himself, she is from a foreign country, and the United States itself, with its different language and culture, is similarly unfamiliar. The use of the phrase “strange land” (Line 14) is useful because it indicates the multiple places where the dancer might feel at odds, both externally and internally.