Claude McKay's “The Harlem Dancer” is a poem immersed in the rich cultural aesthetics of a cultural renaissance that is unable to hide its dark song of oppression, even in an atmosphere relentlessly trying to exorcise these sour notes. The infected atmosphere in question is that of a Harlem nightclub, in which a beautiful black woman dances to express her difficulties as "laughing youths", "prostitutes" and who the speaker watches. Using the speaker's unique perspective and the strict form of the sonnet, McKay highlights both the beauty of resilience and the degradation of the African American "self" perpetuated by racial oppression. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay Initially, a division is established between the speaker and the rest of the audience due to a difference in race and perhaps morality. Critic Beth Palatnik agrees, stating that the speaker "identifies himself, as well as the dancer, with blackness" (Palatnik). According to his analysis, the speaker assumes a position of moral superiority over the rest of the audience who sexualize the dancer's “half-dressed body” (McKay 2). She notes that the speaker is more concerned with the woman's "palm swing" than her scantily clad figure. Although Palatnik seems to believe that this evidence alone proves the moral superiority of the speaker, the speaker is nevertheless himself an audience member in the nightclub, watching this sexualized dance. So it seems hypocritical to suggest that he is morally superior to those around him watching the same show. However, the difference may not be in what the speaker sees, but in what the audience does not see during the performance. Other audience members are described as "laughing", "impatient" and "passionate"; diction that alludes to their unburdened enjoyment of performance. The speaker is distinct from these "boys" and "girls", and the slow, deliberate meter of this sonnet, antithetical to the raucous atmosphere of the nightclub, allows the reader to infer that the speaker is a more reserved and thoughtful. Critic Eugenia W. Collier confirms that the "slow and measured form of the sonnet" contrasts with the "wild world" of Harlem (Collier). The speaker's behavior contrasts with that of those around him just as the structure of this poem contrasts with its setting. Perhaps, as Palatnik suggests, her behavior derives from her rejection of the eroticism projected by the public, which she describes as "cultural rape", or perhaps, as Collier speculates, that he behaves differently due to the age disparity between him and the other audience members. (Palatnik). Yet it is a third explanation that best defends the critical claim that the speaker of this poem is morally superior to those around him. In the final heroic couplet that follows the volta of this sonnet, the reader learns that the speaker sees the dancer's "self" as well as her body, creating a psychological connection rather than mere bodily fascination. Both the audience and the speaker are voyeurs, enjoying the aesthetic pleasure of watching the dancer, but unlike the audience, the speaker sees the dancer as a fully actualized being, spiritually separate from her body and sex, even from his race. The speaker sees her as both a person and the attractive subject of his voyeurism, particularly someone who resembles him because of their shared ethnicity. He recognizes the intersection of beauty and pain that define both his humanity and, as the speaker implies, the African American race. Using the dancer..