Questions about Strange Places

After reading the last line of Claude McKay's poem "If We Must Die," I experienced a moment of confusion rather than clarity. This moment could have been considered a sudden aha! moment, which I discussed in my last blog, and I felt persuaded to ask a question about the text. The poem is about a young prostitute, or a dancer, who is "proudly-swaying...and hanging loose about her form" for men and even women in a dance club during the Harlem Renaissance. Yet the speaker that is watching her performance startles the reader by saying," I knew her self was not in that strange place." What did McKay mean by that sentence? Did she mean that the dancer was forced to dance during those times for money? Was she putting on a show for the audience, while deep down she was unhappy? Looking into context, the descriptions of the dancer and the people admiring her in the poem paint the picture of a confident woman with beautiful features and the confidence to flaunt her assets. Plus, looking further into historical instances, the Harlem Renaissance was a time when the African American community developed into a new black identity. My guess for this last line is that this woman is overwhelmed by the developments of history and culture. As the African Americans were gaining more momentum culturally, the prostitution and dance scene probably gained speed as well. Therefore, I assume she became a dancer for money; an innocent young woman who was forced to put herself out there to succeed in the rising times of the Harlem Renaissance. While people were passionately eyeing her body, she may have felt uncomfortable. The one man that looked through her "falsely-smiling face" could have been the only person in the crowd that didn't look at her in sexual envy.