Banjo (1929) by Claude McKay

Photo by James L. Allen. Courtesy of NYPL Websites.

Introduction

Banjo: A Story without a Plot was published by Claude McKay in 1929, between the World Wars. In the novel, McKay draws on his personal experiences living in France to depict dockworkers and drifters in the port town of Marseilles. The novel follows one group of “beach boys,” combining semi-autobiographical accounts of their pleasure-seeking lifestyle with their conversations about race relations and race politics, in France and abroad.

 

Political Basics

The men in the novel represent various positions on race politics. Below are the four most prominent categories of positions in the novel—remember that each character nuances his views differently, and there are many distinctions to be made within these categories. (You might recognize some of the oppositions between these positions from later conflicts within the Civil Rights movement; they have some features in common with, for example, the political disagreements between Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X.)

- Black Internationalism—This political culture linked blacks from around the world by connecting struggles against slavery, colonialism, and racism. Many of these connections are made in Banjo, like when Ray notes the similarities between the list of atrocities the French were committing in the colonies and the treatment endured by blacks in the United States.

- Racial Assimilationism/Integrationism—During the early 20^th century, assimilation was one possible answer to the question of how black people were to recover their full humanity: by being fully integrated into existing white society. Assimilation might include pursuing higher education and joining the professions, two things that were seen as allowing blacks to move out of their marginal position and into the respectable middle classes, as discussed in Banjo.

- Black Nationalism—Opposed to assimilationists, black nationalists argued that black people should affirm and fight for their own culture and values, demanding their rights on their own terms rather than gaining a place in the existing system that had excluded them. W.E.B. Du Bois was associated with this position, which reflects the views of many of the characters in Banjo.

- Black Separatism and Garveyism—These two positions are subsets of black nationalism that advocate the creation of essentially separate societies for black and white people. Whereas some black separatists thought that these two nations could be created within the United States, Marcus Garvey sought to bring blacks “Back to Africa,” a position represented in the novel by Taloufa.

 

Questions to guide your reading...

In considering these questions, you’ll want to think both about the explicit statements characters make about their views and opinions and about the way these issues play out in the story. “The novel” might not have the same viewpoint as any one of its characters, even its narrator.

 

- Why is Marseilles significant as a setting for the novel? What characterizes port cities in general? Where is Marseilles in particular located?

- Who are the main characters? Where are they from? What is each man’s attitude toward his native country and toward France?

- What position does each character take in discussions of race politics? How is this reflected in the language they use and the way they talk about race? What racial terms do different characters favor?

- How do the characters in the story categorize themselves and the other people in Marseilles? What kinds of racial distinctions do they make? Who feels loyal to whom, and when? What are their views of other groups?

- What is the attitude of the beach boys toward work/labor? Why? How do they make a living? How do they fit into the economy of Marseilles? What kind of economy operates within the group? What are the “rules” of their little society?

- Why do many of the characters see France as hypocritical? How do the French think/talk about their racial attitudes? How does this intersect with their behavior, both in France and abroad?

- What characteristics of black people does the novel celebrate? What ones does it criticize? On what basis does the novel criticize white, “civilized” society?

- There are two sentences about Banjo in the article on McKay on Wikipedia—what would you say if you were to add a paragraph about the novel? How would you describe the novel and what it accomplishes?

 

Ethel Waters Recording of Banjo's favorite tune, "Shake That Thing" Links to an external site.