The Dangers of Unquestioned Patriotism

For my “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité” course this semester, I’m teaching Claude McKay’s Romance in Marseille, a book that builds upon the action in his 1929 novel Banjo: A Story Without a Plot. I plan to teach Banjo in my study travel class, where we will travel to Marseille and Nice. Because of this, I chose to read Banjo recently in preparation for Romance in Marseille and for the study travel trip. As I read Banjo, I became interested in the theme of patriotism that runs throughout the novel, specifically Ray’s comments on patriotism and his examination of the world he inhabits. Ray appears in McKay’s first novel, Home to Harlem (1928), and he is McKay’s alter ego within both novels.

Born in Haiti and spending time in the United States, Ray “enjoyed his role of a wandering black without patriot or family ties” as he contemplates the pitfalls of unquestioned patriotism and dedication to a nation state. The “civilized” world taught him about patriotism, one’s unquestioning fidelity to a nation that does not necessarily have their best interests in mind. He enjoyed seeing “Italians against French, French against Anglo-Saxons, English against Germans,” and others. Nation trumped humanity for these individuals, and it was “Europe who taught him to be patriotic” because they told him “he was an American.”