Harlem Renaissance Literary Productions: Context, Role, Philosophy and Objective In “The Negro’s Tragedy”

This paper aims to show and analyze how through “an outstanding poetic creation”, Claude McKay describes clearly the context, role, philosophy and objective of the Harlem Renaissance literary productions while describing his own role and vocation as an African American writer. Indeed by describing his own role as a pioneer of the Harlem Renaissance Movement, “this assertive poem” is actually a précis and paradigm of the motives and chart gathering all those black pioneer writers engaged in this literary movement. This paper provides, through the hermeneutic study of this symptomatic sonnet about the Negro’s tragedy; an analysis of the context in which the Harlem Renaissance literary productions had been produced, the role of those literary productions, the main philosophy surrounding the literary productions of this Black Movement and finally the objective targeted by those literary productions. The hermeneutic approach is sustained by the socio-criticism, African American criticisms and stylistics theories to better characterize the semantic and social scope of this poem. 
 


Introduction
The poem entitled "The Negro's Tragedy" is a sonnet written by Claude McKay  a pioneering-poet of Harlem Renaissance. This poem is a symptomatic testimony about his role and vocation as an African American writer namely in terms of ethnic literature. In this sonnet, he tells and explains his aim and objective as an African American writer, and also that of his literary productions. But the most striking thing is that this poem through an insight reading allegorically moves us from the microcosm "I" to the macrocosm "we" by conveying, explaining and informing us about the specific aims of the literary productions by the group of black writers known as the Harlem Renaissance writers. Indeed, when transcending his own assertion in this poem, we realize that the poet McKay (one of the leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance) has managed to capture in this same poem some of the major characteristics of the Negro Renaissance. That is why a thorough analysis of the poem, permits us to observe that this poem is like 4 "The Constitution" of the Harlem Renaissance Movement considering its literary productions thanks to its content.
The larger project and central problematic in this paper is therefore to answer specifically to the following question: How does the poem "The Negro's Tragedy" represent "The Constitution" of the Harlem Renaissance literary productions through the message it conveys or through its semantic?
This central problematic in order to be solved will also revolve around one important and central question which will constitute the blueprint of our analysis: How does the poem "The Negro's Tragedy" explain the context, the role, the philosophy and the main objective of the literary productions by the Harlem Renaissance writers?
To answer to this question, the theoretical background that will be used will be theories such as hermeneutics (meaning the critical interpretation and analysis of the content, which encompasses such forms as fable, parable, and apologue, may have meaning on two or more levels that the reader can understand only through an interpretive process. https://www.britannica.com/art/allegory-art-andliterature. www.ijellh.com 163 semantic, and message of the poem); African American criticism (meaning the critical analysis of the content, semantic of the poem considering the role of ethnic literature and the fact that group of black writers produced firsthand accounts of their lives in face of white people racism); and stylistics (meaning that the critical interpretation of the content and semantic will be sustained by the critical analysis of rhetoric, form, image, metaphor, and the structure of the poem which is a sonnet).
This study will revolve around four key parts that will constitute the blueprint of our analysis: First of all, the beginning of the poem (the title and the two first verses, V1 and V2) will be used to present and explain the context in which and why the Harlem Renaissance writers have outpoured such literary productions.
Secondly, the third and fourth verses of the poem (V3 and V4) will be used to present and explain the role of the literary productions of the Harlem Renaissance as well as that of the writers.
Thirdly, in the same poem, and through the two following stanzas (from V5 to V12), we are informed about the philosophy which had underpinned the Harlem Renaissance writers and their literary productions.
And finally, in its two last verses (V13 to V14), this sonnet sheds light on the main objective of the Harlem Renaissance literary productions as well as the main objective of the writers of this movement.

Context of the Harlem Renaissance Literary Productions
In this lyrical and committed sonnet 5 , the poet Claude McKay, since the expressive and meaningful title and also through the two first verses presents the general social climate, 5 Poem composed of 14 verses or lines (short poem).
www.ijellh.com 164 the general social atmosphere and in a word the context in which he was obliged to produce his own protest literature (his literary productions) and major poems in United States.
Moreover, as a pioneering-poet of Harlem Renaissance, by doing so, he recalls by the same way also the general atmosphere or the general context in which the Harlem Renaissance writers have outpoured their literary productions. And concerning this general context he is quite clear when he says: "V1 It is the Negro's tragedy I feel / V2 Which binds me like a heavy iron chain," We observe that at the outset of this poem and since its title, McKay informs the readers and the world that there is a problem and this problem is the Negro's tragedy. In other words, the Negro is undergoing a tragedy that is why the poem is entitled explicitly "The Negro's Tragedy" so that any reader should know that this poem is about the Negro's tragedy.
And this is the reason why he is writing and it is the context in which he writes. It is the situation which obliges him to write, to be engaged and committed in writings through the Harlem Renaissance. So in conclusion and in other words, the general context of the Harlem Renaissance literary productions is the Negro's tragedy.
The symbolic use of the meaningful expression "the Negro's tragedy" to present the context in which and why he is writing at that moment and during this period shed light on the overall Negro situation and problem in the United States of America and in the world.
Indeed, taking the context which had favored the Harlem Renaissance itself in substance, blueprints, core value and in most of the literary productions of the period 6 , we can admit that it was time for the Negro and with a urgent need "to go behind the white man's definitions" 7 of black people. This implies to correct the "wrong image of the Blacks as portrayed by the Whites" by "decreating the stereotypes presented by the White writers about 6 We mean here by this expression "most of the literary productions of the period" the literary productions of the Such ideas of "a worthless human being" 10 and of "an inferior black man" surrounding this quotation were indeed the main motives that encouraged the Negro writers or the African writers and namely the Harlem Renaissance writers to think it was time for "singing their own praises and creating a black consciousness". That is why this cultural movement was also known as the "The New Negro Movement" or "The New Negro Renaissance". In other words, those other appellations or identifications through the expressions "New Negro Movement" or "New Negro Renaissance" are highly characterized by a major change of value in terms of the characterization of the Negro human being because they make a difference between an "Old Negro" and a "New Negro" both in the form and in the content.
8 James Baldwin, The fire next time, pp. 8-9. 9 https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/64079/7/07_chapter%201.pdf / CHAPTER ONE / ASSERTIVE BLACK POETS/ p. 7. VISITED ON 4 July 2020. 10 "The limits of your ambition were, thus, expected to be set forever. You were born into a society which spelled out with brutal clarity, and in as many ways as possible, that you were a worthless human being. You were not expected to aspire to excellence: you were expected to make peace with mediocrity." James Baldwin, The fire next time, p. 7. Indeed, we can admit that due to the general atmosphere of the Negro's tragedy; it was of course important "to reconceptualize the Negro" and in this perspective the lexemes "the New Negro Movement" and "the New Negro Renaissance" associated to both the period and the movement were very important for this movement and the period and were clear to understand. Because they 13 define and describe that there was something really new in the history of African Americans descent in the USA as "a spiritual coming of age" for African American artists and thinkers, who seized upon their "first chances for group expression and self-determination", hence, the notion of New Negro itself.
the Old Negro had long become more of a myth than a man. The Old Negro, we must remember, was a creature of moral debate and historical controversy. His has been a stock figure perpetuated as an historical fiction partly in innocent sentimentalism, partly in deliberate reactionism. The Negro himself has contributed his share to this through a sort of protective social mimicry forced upon him by the adverse www.ijellh.com 168 circumstances of dependence. So for generations in the mind of America, the Negro has been more of a formula than a human being --a something to be argued about, condemned or defended, to be "kept down," or "in his place," or "helped up," to be worried with or worried over, harassed or patronized, a social bogey or a social burden. for generations in the mind of America, the Negro has been more of a formula than a human being --a something to be argued about, condemned or defended, to be "kept down," or "in his place," or "helped up," to be worried with or worried over, harassed or patronized, a social bogey or a social burden Of course the meaningful and symptomatic expression "the Negro's tragedy" both in the title and in the first verse is a good image and a significant metaphor to caricature the situation of the Negro at this time if not today also because it is still today question to ask ourselves if blacks lives matter in the United States of America. Indeed, for the poet McKay, there is exactly a "Negro's tragedy" when since long time; white men dehumanize the Negro, the negroes suffer predicaments at the hands of white people, the portrayal of Africa and Africans is something of "primitive", the status and worth of the Africans and African Americans human beings is viewed as "a worthless human being" or "inferior to white men." Being a significant figure in the literary movement of the Harlem Renaissance and being also a pioneering-poet of Harlem Renaissance, we can admit that it is exactly such a context of "Negro's tragedy" which had fostered the Harlem Renaissance Movement or the New Negro Movement or again the New Negro Renaissance. And we can clearly or substantially modify the two first verses (V1and V2) from the microcosm "I" to the macrocosm "we" by rewriting them the following way when we consider that Claude McKay is their spokesman: "V1 It is the Negro's tragedy the Harlem Renaissance writers feel / V2 Which binds them like a heavy iron chain." It is important therefore after the analysis and 20 "But it is not permissible that the authors of devastation should also be innocent. It is the innocence which constitutes the crime" in James Baldwin,  Using this brief poetic form which is the sonnet to express himself, Claude McKay rapidly and directly in his first stanza states both the context which obliges and encourages him to write as a pioneering-poet of Harlem Renaissance. But also, he states bluntly his role and the role he deserves to his writing as well as the role he deserves to their writings as a www.ijellh.com 173 group of Negroes writers composing the Harlem Renaissance by saying: (V3"It is the Negro's wounds I want to heal / V4 Because I know the keenness of his pain").
Being a sonnet and being obliged to be direct and to encode his message, McKay uses this significant expression to state his major role as a black writer. In these verses, our focus will be on the expression: "It is the Negro's wounds I want to heal" or in a better way on the expression "I want to heal the Negro's wounds" which is characterized by the concept: "To heal the Negro's wounds".
Indeed, the expression used to identify the role of Claude MacKay or the role of the Harlem Renaissance writers and that of their literary productions is most symptomatic to a particular field which is the field of medicine or the medical sphere that we may observe trough the typical words: "To heal" and "wounds". And this aspect and particularity of medical sphere or medicine is very important because it is in this domain that a human being is kept in life and cured from any kind of disease by doctors, it is there that particular people (doctors) save particular people's life (sick people).
So practically speaking, "to heal" means "cure somebody or something from ailment: to restore a person, body part, or injury to health" or "be repaired naturally: to be repaired and restored naturally, e.g. by the formation of scar tissue". But it also means in other context and domain "put something right: to repair or rectify something that causes discord and animosity" and "be morally purified: to get rid of a wrong, evil, or spiritual affliction". 23 And the word "wounds" practically speaking means "injury to body: an injury in which the skin, tissue, or an organ is broken by some external force such as a blow or surgical incision, with damage to the underlying tissue" or "injure: to cause a wound in the body of somebody or something, especially using a knife, gun, or other weapon". But it also means in other context and domain "emotional injury: a lasting emotional or psychological injury" and The fact to move from the literal to the metaphorical then to the symbolical spheres of definition and meaning concerning the expression "to heal the Negro's wounds"; we observe that this same expression thanks to an ascending gradation takes many senses and all those senses are justified by the expression "the Negro's wounds". Concerning the expression "the Negro's wounds" itself, we can say that the fact to be at the plural and to cover both the "injury to body" and the "emotional injury" permits us to say that this expression covers a wide scope of "wounds" or it covers of all the "wounds" of the Negroes. Because through those many tragedies of the Negroes, it is obvious that the Negro has many "wounds" that we can list and categorize as follow: the wound of being stereotyped, the wound of being condemned, the wound of being discriminated, the wound of being segregated, the wound of being massacred, the wound of being lynched, the wound of being murdered, the wound of being enslaved, the wound of being colonized, the wound of being ill-treated, the wound of being uprooted, And here when referring to the literal explanation above, we can admit the expression and verse ("It is the Negro's wounds I want to heal") as related to the full role of doctors those writers play in their community, and also to the full role of medicines their literary productions play for their community. That is why one of the most important figure of the Here also, when referring to this new literal explanation above, we can admit the expression and verse ("Because I know the keenness of his pain") as the valuable expression of the Black writers as part and members of this community, as part of its sufferings, and as witnesses of this people predicaments. Therefore they are the ideal "doctors" of their community because as Negro writers their role and duties are to defend their Negro community, to talk on behalf of their Negro community. Simply because they are part of the Negro community and they are also part of all the sufferings of the Negro community. That is why it is said that "the agonies of others are the garments of a sensitive Black intellectual.
Understandably therefore, the Black creationists cry over the lot of their race and try to create an awareness or consciousness of their race in the minds of the suffering Blacks. Being a significant figure in this literary movement of the Harlem Renaissance and also a pioneering-poet of Harlem Renaissance, we can admit that it is exactly such a role of "healing the Negro's wounds" which was the role of the Harlem Renaissance writers and also that of their literary productions. And we can clearly modify the first stanza from the microcosm "I" to the macrocosm "we" by rewriting it the following way when we consider basic principles or concepts underlying this particular group of Negro writers). And moreover, it is the set of beliefs or aims characterizing their literary productions, meaning the set of precepts, beliefs, principles, or aims, underlying their practice, actions, conduct and literary productions.
In a word, it is interesting to know how that group of writers thinks, or how Claude McKay thinks in terms of "New Negro Renaissance 36 " and in terms of "New Negro Renaissance" literary productions. And to answer to that concern about the general mindset

5-Fifth philosophy: No white man could write the/a Negro book (a-b-a-b-a-b)
It is very important to precise in terms of stylistics that the fact to move from (a) to (ab) to (a-b-a-b) to (a-b-a-b-a) to (a-b-a-b-a-b) and finally with the two last verses to (a-b-a-b-ab-a-b) (rhyming patterns) shows that these 8 verses are all interrelated, are all connected one by one in a progressive way. And it is the whole block of 8 verses taken as an entity which www.ijellh.com 185 gives sense and produces meaning related to both the philosophy of an ethnic literature; the notion of a group engagement; and finally, the notion of same vision, same precepts, same beliefs, and the same principles.
And here to better understand this beautiful aspect, one can rely on the beginning word of each verse or the "connecting word" of each verse to another one. The "connecting word" which puts in relationship each verse to the following one from the first one to the last one in the two stanzas: "Only -Can -Or -Which -So -There is -Though -Of".
When coming back to these five (5)  First coined as the "New Negro Movement" 39 , and later known officially as the Harlem Renaissance; we should say that this very first appellation of "New Negro Movement" or also of "New Negro Renaissance" is very significant for it encompasses the whole philosophy which has guided this movement and the period. Indeed, the major or fundamental philosophy of the Harlem Renaissance resides in the sole and unique fact that it was and still had been a Negro movement. Meaning the major characteristic was that it was identified with And at the very beginning this philosophy or principle of uniquely a Negro movement was already set up since it has been a group of black intellectuals and artists gathering. And it is throughout this major or fundamental philosophy that we have the other principles or the other detailed principles such as the philosophy of an ethnic literature; the notion of a group 39 "These forces converged to help create the "New Negro Movement" of the 1920s, which promoted a renewed sense of racial pride, cultural self-expression, economic independence, and progressive politics. https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/naacp/the-new-negro-movement.html. VISITED ON 4 July 2020. 40 https://www.123helpme.com/characteristics-of-the-harlem-renaissance-in-the-works-of-langston-hughescountee-cullen-and-claude-mckay-preview.asp?id=286652. VISITED ON 4 July 2020.
www.ijellh.com 188 engagement; and finally, the notion of same vision, same precepts, same beliefs, and the same principles.
So the philosophy, guiding those literary productions, is that it is only Blacks who are "authorized" to write or whose writings are taken into account to represent the movement and not white people or white writers. That is why this philosophy or principle will be reasserted by Claude McKay (as a pioneering-poet of Harlem Renaissance) in this poem in a boomeranging structure so that the beginning (principle 1) becomes the end (principle 5) or so that the beginning is similar to the end because the principle 1 and the principle 5 share the same concern and the same idea: Indeed, the Harlem Renaissance can be characterized at the outset as a group of very sensitive black intellectuals and artists who had gathered in the name of race and color. And this aspect is very important and also should not be ignored because, for those sensitive black intellectuals and artists racial consciousness had become a part and parcel of their life. So they gathered in the name of race and color to give an unprecedented exposure to their problems, hopes and aspirations.
That is why in accordance with the philosophy of an ethnic literature; the notion of a group engagement; and finally, the notion of same vision, same precepts, same beliefs, and the same principles; this same block of 8 verses (verse 5 to verse 12) about the general and fundamental philosophy characterizing the Harlem Renaissance writers and literary productions may be reevaluated as following: -As for the realistic precision but also the realistic truth about the notion of a group engagement, we have:

OBJECTIVE OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE LITERARY PRODUCTIONS
As usually in his sonnet, the two last verses constitute his conclusion or the conclusion of the topic (the concern, the title) he is dealing with. And here too also, we observe that in the two last verses of this sonnet (V13-14), the poet McKay states the conclusion of his topic "The Negro's Tragedy".
By stating the conclusion this way, he is telling at the same time the objective of his own literary productions as a member of the Harlem Renaissance. And we may observe also that through this same conclusion, and thanks to the literary device or the poetic code "Our statesmen", he tells also by the same way the objective of all the Harlem Renaissance writers' literary productions. In the verse "Our statesmen roam the world to set things right", the semantic unit "to set things right" is of great importance. Because first of all, this semantic unit or expression "to set things right" is a kind of metaphor that the poet uses to refer to all the wrong deeds against black people, all the tragedies against black people and in our paper here, all the wounds 48 against Negroes. Secondly, this semantic unit or expression "to set things right" is a kind of litotes that the poet uses in order to say more about the plurality of the objectives of their writings and the plurality of their roles as African American writers whose community has suffered so much at the hand of white people. Broadly speaking, in these two last concluding verses we may summary through the expressions and semantic units "to set things right", "this Negro laughs", and "this Negro prays to God for Light!" the triple objectives and intentions of the Harlem Renaissance itself, the triple objectives and intentions of its writers and the triple objectives and intentions of their literary productions. And these triple objectives may be understood simply by means of www.ijellh.com 197 rhetoric as first to correct "things", second to instill joy and happiness and third to hope for a better future of "light" and happiness in contrast of "darkness" and sorry.
In the renaissance blacks essentially made a new identity for themselves; known as the "new negro", this included no longer allowing whites to treat them as if they were not humans; additionally they would breakdown the stereotypes of blacks and not let whites dictate them because of their color, past, or financial status 53 There is ample evidence of a New Negro in the latest phases of social change and progress, but still more in the internal world of the Negro mind and spirit…Yet the New Negro must be seen in the perspective of a new World, and especially of a New America…the full significance of that even is a racial awakening on a national and perhaps even a world scale. 54 The three positive things which are to "set things right", to induce "laughs" and "to pray to God for light" are both assembled in the two last verses of the poem, the conclusion, a couplet characterized by the rhyming pattern (a-a) to show the positiveness of the three words "right", "laugh" and "light". But beyond this, it also shows that the aim of the Harlem Renaissance productions is a positive aim at the end. The rhyming pattern (a-a) at these two last verses gives therefore a harmony of ideas and objectives and reinforces the logic of a common and same objectives as far as the Harlem Renaissance writers are concerned as African American writers or/and as "statesmen" of the Negro community. The Harlem Renaissance being the movement to which he belongs to as a pioneeringpoet, by telling at a microcosm sphere the context, the role, the philosophy guiding, and the objective of his own literary productions, McKay tells by the same way at a macrocosm sphere the context, the role, the philosophy guiding, and the objective of the entire Harlem Renaissance literary productions.
The progressive semanteme and the method of literary creation he used to do so (2--2--8---2), not mixing ideas and going step by step has been a good one to help us identify the different verses and their different and particular concerns or themes. And thanks to such a literary creation, we observe that for each part or concern or theme, he has respected the equality of two (2) verses except for the theme concerning the philosophy guiding their literary productions; where he dedicated a huge number of verses eight (8). And it seems that this part is of great importance and has more value in accordance with the period and the context in which this literary movement began. It was important thanks to these 8 verses to characterize the literary movement and to tell a lot about the intrinsic forces sustaining them as a group of Negro writers and as an entity of group expression.
At the end of this paper, we can admit that this ideology of renaissance 55 which according to Nathan Irvin Huggins: "symbolizes black liberation and sophistication -the final shaking off of the residuals of slavery in the mind, spirit and character…confirming a 55 An ideology that we find through the expressions "Harlem Renaissance" and "New Negro Renaissance".
www.ijellh.com 199 people's culture and underwriting their identity and self-respect"; is well exemplified through the context, role, philosophy and objective of the Harlem Renaissance literary productions as described in this sonnet by Claude McKay and also as a positive movement.
It is quite clear that the context of a Negro group mass literary productions was exactly "the Negro's tragedy" at that time and due to such a context, those Negroes writers considered themselves as the statesmen of their community in accordance with their role as writers and therefore decided "to heal the Negro's wounds" simply as Negroes and as members of the Negro community because they "know the keenness of his pain".
This simple characteristic enhances the substance of an ethnic literature and namely an African American ethnic literature in which the recognition and philosophy were that "only a thorn-crowned negroes and no whites" writers feeling the sufferings of their community, have defined themselves the same objective which was to "set things right" and by doing so, to give "laugh" to Negro and hope for a new future of joy, happiness and "light".
So thanks to this allegorical reading 56 of the sonnet "The Negro's Tragedy" we can admit that the Harlem Renaissance is derived from a context of "Negro's tragedy" with the intention "to heal the Negro's wounds" and with the philosophy of being characterized only by negroes "Only a thorn-crowned Negro and no white" whose main objective was "to set things right", to give "laugh" to the Negro and promote a new future of "light" for the negro that is the message conveyed about the Harlem Renaissance by Claude McKay.
This poem at last in its lines symbolizes the major characteristics of the Harlem Renaissance group of Negro writers and that of their literary productions. And also the poem presents the Harlem Renaissance movement as a positive movement as well as its aim and the 56 Allegory, a symbolic fictional narrative that conveys a meaning not explicitly set forth in the narrative. Allegory, which encompasses such forms as fable, parable, and apologue, may have meaning on two or more levels that the reader can understand only through an interpretive process. https://www.britannica.com/art/allegory-art-and-literature. VISITED ON 4 July 2020.
www.ijellh.com 200 aim of its literary productions have been broadly positive through the expressions: to "set things right", to induce "laughs" and "to pray to God for light". Even today in 2020, the Harlem Renaissance or the New Negro Renaissance is still of topical interest because blacks in the United States of America ask themselves if Blacks lives matter in this white dominated country in accordance with the numerous deaths and murders due to injustice and racism.