s cultured hell that tests my youth! Her vigor flows like tides into my blood giving me strength erect against her hate." This line indicates that while he struggles as an American, it is America that keeps him going; that she gives him life even as she sucks it away. McKay is saying that he loves America not so much as an American but as an outsider that needs the test to live and become stronger. Another example of the theme of alientation is in the line "Yet as a rebel fronts a king in state I stand within her walls." McKay is once again using the point of view of the outsider rather than someone that really feels "American." This poem is further evidence of McKays theme of alienation is his work.In another of McKay's works, "The White House," the African-American as a political outsider is clearly demonstrated. The image invoked in the line "Your door is shut agianst my tightened face," is that of an outsider looking in or wanting in but being shut out. The voice, or point of view of the outsider is once again used consistently throughtout the poem. By referring to the house, the door and the law all as "theirs" and not his, McKay very effectivly illustrates his alienation and disenfranchisement. He is speaking as one looking in on something rather than one that is a part of something. This is the very definition of an "outsider." More political reference can be found in the line where the White House tries to "hold me to the letter of your law." This is most likely criticising the way that white Americans had the full benefit of law, while negroes had the worst of both worlds; being excluded from all its freedoms but included in all its punishments. McKay's "White House" displays the exclusion of the American negro from the politics of the time. This makes for another good example of aliention theme in McKay's works.The poems "Outcast,""America," and 'The White House" all display the similiar aspects of being the ou...
