Question

If we must die, let it not be like dogs Hunted and penned in an inglorious 1 spot, While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs, Making their mock at our accursed lot. If we must die, O let us nobly die, So that our precious blood may not be shedIn vain; then even the monsters we defy Shall be constrained to honor us though dead! O kinsmen! 2 we must meet the common foe![10]Though far outnumbered let us show us brave, And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow! What though before us lies the open grave? Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack, Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back! "If We Must Die" by Claude McKay (1919) is in the public domain. What is this poem mostly about?

A) How war is sometimes unavoidable
B) How men should fight back courageously to die honorably
C) How difficult it is to fight when you are outnumbered by the enemy
D) How a group of noble men can always defeat a vicious enemy

Answer 1

Claude McKay's 'If We Must Die' is about the honorable fight against overwhelming odds, urging men to die with dignity and courage rather than passively.

Step-by-step explanation:

The poem 'If We Must Die' by Claude McKay is predominantly about the call for men to fight back courageously and die with honor rather than being slaughtered like animals without resistance. McKay emphasizes the importance of standing up against overwhelming odds, fighting honorably, and showing bravery even in the face of certain death. The poem reflects the sentiments of an era where mechanized warfare made individual heroism seem irrelevant, yet it calls for the preservation of human dignity through valiant resistance.