1076 Toomer, Jean
The second section of the book, set in the urban
North, shows blackness as a vital force in a spiritu-
ally dead white world. In “Seventh Street,” African
Americans migrating to the North bring music, love,
and blood into the stale, whitewashed city of Wash-
ington, D.C. Images of black characters trapped in
northern white spaces (tree boxes, houses, theaters,
alleys, and machines) are contrasted with organic
descriptions of black characters still in touch with
their southern heritage. In “Box Seat,” Toomer
describes “a portly Negress” who smells of soil and
whose roots sink beneath the asphalt streets and
head south. Dan Moore, born in a canefield, sees
himself as a savior come to free others. “Shake your
curled wool-blossoms, nigger,” the narrator directs.
“Stir the root-life of a withered people.” Several sto-
ries in the second section criticize “dickty” African
Americans, nearly white and almost fully assimi-
lated, for giving up their passionate nature. John in
“Theater” and Paul in “Bona and Paul” avoid spon-
taneous expressions of feeling. Both have opportu-
nities to engage in relationships but fail to connect
with women because they over-intellectualize those
relationships.
The third section brings the racial dynamics of
the first two parts full circle in the figure of Ralph
Kabnis, an educated northern black man who comes
to the South to teach school. Unfortunately, his fear
of lynching and rejection of religion render him
unable to experience the beauty of southern folk
life. Kabnis is also unable to embrace the suffering
of the past, symbolized by Father John, an old blind
and deaf man who lives beneath Halsey’s shop and
speaks of whites’ twisting of the Bible. Of the old
man, Kabnis says that “he aint my past. My ances-
tors were Southern blue-bloods.” In contrast, Lewis
is able to “merge with his source” through contact
with Father John and serves as an example of a
fully developed black identity. He is looked up to by
Halsey, an accommodationist who has sacrificed his
manhood to be accepted in the community.
Toomer’s black characters represent a variety
of racial positions, from those fully connected with
their heritage to those who deny it. His emphasizes
the power and beauty of black folk culture and the
importance of rootedness in it. There is some trou-
bling racial essentialism at work in the clear lines
that Toomer draws between black and white char-
acteristics, but this speaks to his desire to preserve
a way of life that he thought was quickly changing.
Amanda LawrenceSex and SexuaLIty in Cane
In the southern section of Cane, sexuality is tied to
victimization and violence. With the exception of
“Blood Burning Moon,” none of the stories feature
white men as sexual predators. Rather, Toomer
focuses on the dangers that black women face within
their own communities and the limited ways in
which they can safely express their sexuality.
Both Karintha and Fern are victimized and
idolized by men who see them only in terms of
their sexuality. Karintha’s early beauty leads to an
unnatural interest from men who want to ride
her on their knees as a child and later use her as a
woman. Toomer depicts this male wish “to ripen a
growing thing too soon” as damaging to the soul,
and indeed, Karintha grows into a prostitute who
kills her child and contemptuously indulges the men
who bring her money. Like Karintha’s beauty, Fern’s
eyes transfix men who incorrectly interpret desire in
them. When she is unfulfilled by their bodies, they
vow to “do some fine thing for her” and paradoxi-
cally begin to see her as a virgin through whom they
can find God.
Carma and Esther assert their sexuality in ways
of their own choosing, but neither finds a fulfill-
ing relationship. “Strong as a man,” Carma takes
lovers when her husband, Bane, is away working.
They engage in a power struggle with Bane when
he accuses her of infidelity. She pretends to shoot
herself, leading him to lose control, slash another
man, and be sentenced to the chain gang. The
narrator defends her right to take lovers but pro-
nounces Carma’s story of sexual jealousy “the crudest
melodrama.” Esther’s story presents the theme of
repressed female desire. Because she is the light-
skinned daughter of the wealthiest black man in
town, she is set apart from others. At 16 she fanta-
sizes about Barlo, a dark, itinerant field worker and
preacher. Because of her strict religious beliefs, she
imagines that she immaculately conceives his child.
Still a virgin at 27, Esther recklessly offers herself to
Barlo and suffers the ridicule of his rejection.