|
"Here at the edge of hell
Stands Harlem" Line 1-2
This phrase gives you the image is comparable to hell in the way the
residence live.
"The old "Be patient"
They told us before." Line 5-6
This tells you that the author was discriminated against and forced
wait while whites got to go ahead first.
"Sure, we remember.
Now when the man at the corner store
Says sugar's gone up another two cents,
And bread one,
And there's a new tax on cigarettes -
We remember the job we never had,
Never could get,
And can't have now
Because we're colored." 2nd Stanza
The author talks about prices going up on everyday things. Everybody
did not have a job especially around the Great Depression for blacks
so they really couldn't get anything now.
"So we stand here
On the edge of hell
In Harlem
And look out on the world
And wonder
What we're gonna do
In the face of what
We remember." 3rd Stanza
This stanza tells you that the author is unsure of what he's going to
do in the future in the real world. How can he survive in the real world
when he's deprived of his youth because he's been discriminated against?
His self esteem could be so low that doesn't even have the courage to
live life to the fullest.
|
