Cane (Masterplots II: African American Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Jean Toomer
- First Published: 1923
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Social criticism
- Time of Work: The early 1920’s
- Setting: Rural Georgia, Chicago, Washington, D.C.
- Principal Characters: Fernie May Rosen, Tom Burwell, Paul Johnson, Ralph Kabnis
- Genres: Social realism, Short fiction
- Subjects: African Americans, Love or romance, Race, Sex or sexuality, Biracial people, Murder or homicide, Gender roles, Interracial relationships, Prostitution or prostitutes, 1920’s, Chicago, Georgia, Jews or Jewish life, Oppression, Washington, D.C.
- Locales: South (U.S.), Chicago, IL, Georgia, Washington, D.C.
The Novel
Cane is a slim miscellany composed of fifteen poems, six brief prose vignettes, seven stories, and a play—all about black life in the 1920’s. The book is divided into three parts, the first and last of which are set in rural Georgia; the narratives of the second section take place in Chicago and in Washington, D.C. Women, particularly in the first part, are depicted as sex objects who, though victimized by men, manage not only to endure but also to prevail, often exercising spiritual and emotional control over the very men who seduce them.
The six...
[The entire page is 2915 words long]
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See Also:
See Also:
- - Cane summary and study guide in the eNotes.
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