Corey McMullin Assignment 3

1. In “The Harlem Dancer” by Claude Mckay, tone was created by imagery. The dancer was compared to a “proudly-swaying palm/ grown lovelier for passing through a storm” (ll. 6-7). This shows that she appeared to be a woman that had survived, even surpassed, the struggles brought about by life in Harlem. Yet this was later shown to be untrue; while others “devoured her shape with eager, passionate gaze” (l. 12), she had a “falsely-smiling face” (l. 13). Even though the crowd believed she was happy regardless of living in Harlem, she too struggled.


2. “It doesn’t make much difference how the pain is put on as long as something has been said. Technique is just a means of arriving at a statement.” –Jackson Pollock

I find this quote is quite appropriate, coming from a man known for slinging paint onto his canvas. I agree that art does not come in any one shape or form. Art is simply art just because it holds meaning. In 1917, Duchamp signed a urinal (not even with his own name) and attempted to enter it into a gallery. While the owners of the gallery refused to accept the piece, Duchamp’s urinal, titled “Fountain,” carried with it a provocative statement about art: that “art is something you piss on” according to Stephen Hicks. Even a urinal can be art as long as it carries a message.