Fern (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Jean Toomer
- First Published: 1922
- Type of Plot: Psychological
- Time of Work: The early 1920's
- Setting: Macon, Georgia
- Principal Characters: Fern, The narrator
- Genres: Psychological fiction, Short fiction
- Subjects: African Americans, Sex or sexuality, South or Southerners, Interracial relationships, 1920’s, Duty, Corruption, Femininity of God
- Locales: Macon, GA
The Story
The narrator, a northern white man, recalls an unforgettable black woman named Fern whom he once met in Macon, Georgia. Everything about this young woman is defined by her captivating eyes, which link all of her to the Georgia soil and to universal human needs. “Her face flowed into her eyes.” Indeed, “like her face, the whole countryside seemed to flow into her eyes.”
Fern's eyes tell men that she is easy. When she was young, a few men took her but got no joy from it. Afterward, they felt bound to her, obligated in ways that they could not explain. As...
[The entire page is 1466 words long]
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