Claude McKay has changed a lot so far in A Long Way From Home. I have read around 100 pages of it and have noticed that Claude isn’t the same person that traveled from Jamaica. He is now more curious than ever to learn about the rest of the world, like the US, London, and Europe. He is finally starting to expand his writing beyond poems, with writing reviews of plays and publishing his second book of poems, Spring in New Hampshire. He is excited about the US, and on page 6 it says, “My mind was full of the rendezvous with that editor in New York. And as I couldn’t talk to any of the fellows about it, it was better to find elsewhere excitement that would keep me from thinking too much.” Claude is curious and seeks adventure whenever he can.
His interest about the world translates to his writing of poems and books, but despite his time in the US he never forgets his Jamaican roots:
“So much I have forgotten in ten years, /So much in ten brief years! I have forgot /What time the purple apples come to juice, /And what month brings the shy forget-me-not. /I have forgot the special, startling season /Of the pimento’s flowering and fruiting; /What time of year the ground doves brown the fields /And fill the noonday with their curious fluting- /I have forgotten much, but still remember /The poinsettia’s red, blood-red in warm December.”
This is Claude remembering Jamaica and shows why he is a poet. Claude is not just curious and brilliant, but he is also kind, and we see that despite the racism that is evident in the US he is able to be kind to those who don’t treat him well. Relating to Inaya’s post below, in the question of friendship testing the law, when McKay is alone at a restaurant a pickpocket comes by and tells McKay that the police are chasing him. McKay now has to make a decision on whether to help this man who is a criminal, or ignore. The logical part in McKay’s brain tells him to not run the risk of getting in trouble with the police for helping a criminal, but the other part in McKay’s brain is curious to see a relationship he could have with him. McKay’s curiosity gets the best of him and he gives the pickpocket his hat to hide him from the police. “Would you weigh the chances of getting caught…” This is from Inaya’s controlling idea, and it is a fair question. This is exactly the same scenario McKay is in. McKay weighs his options of choosing the law or a possible relationship, and he chooses a relationship. Like Inaya says in her controlling idea, “I think you would be surprised what you would be tempted to do.”