Cane (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Jean Toomer
- First Published: 1923
- Type of Work: Poetry and short fiction
- Type of Plot: Experimental
- Time of Work: The early 1920’s
- Setting: Rural Georgia, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.
- 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.
Characters Discussed
Fernie May Rosen, the beautiful, unhappy daughter of a black mother and a white Jewish father. She spends most days listlessly sitting on the porch of her rural Georgia home. She is the object of men’s desires. Her remote indifference leads men to abandon her, but ironically they remain under her spell and bring her gifts as signs of their adoration.
Tom Burwell, a black field hand competing with a white man for the attentions of Louisa, a black woman working for his rival’s family. A gentle introvert, Tom cannot express his feelings to Louisa....
[The entire page is 759 words long]
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