Jean Toomer's Stories

Jean Toomer's book Cane reflects social attitudes toward race and racial matters and so can be linked to the statement by W.E.B. DuBois that "the problem of the 20th Century is the problem of the color line." Race itself becomes a source of social and cultural marginalization for many black people and has done so since blacks were removed from Africa and brought to this country as slaves. Once slavery ended, many may have thought blacks would be assimilated into society over time, and while this has occurred, it has not been rapid enough and has not meant that they do not feel marginalized in a society that rewards some groups and leaves others by the wayside.

Americans do share a common national identity at some level, but at the same time, different groups in American society have somewhat different perspectives on the degree to which they belong to the larger entity of America. America is often referred to as a melting pot, a reference that is meant to indicate the fact that so many different kinds of people have come here to join the larger American society. The virtue being promoted in this concept is the virtue of assimilation, and it was long felt that even if the first-generation immigrants were unable to assimilate fully because of linguistic or cultural differences that might emphasize their separate identity, their children would be fully assimilated and "Americanized." In sociology, there have been two perspectives on this issue, the assimilationist which h

Related Essays

Jean Toomer .... T. Turner's Introduction to the 1975 Edition of Jean Toomer's Crane, the writer tries to gives us a fuller understanding of the author, his era, and his works. .... (467 2 )

Jean Toomer's Novel "Cane" Jean Toomer's Cane is a beautiful, provocative work that challenges readers in many ways. .... Toomer, Jean. Cane. 1923. New York: Norton, 1988. (1935 8 )

Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback PBS Pin .... seven years later. A grandson, Jean Toomer, later raised questions about his grandfather's actual racial identity. He suggested that .... (1804 7 )

Alice Walker and Ralph Ellison .... For this reason, the poet Jean Toomer referred to these women as "saints." He perceived that they were more than ordinary women but lacked the words to .... (1896 8 )

Langston Hughes .... The innovative novel Cane (1923) by Jean Toomer voiced the common theme of the Harlem Renaissance in its identification with the life-styles of the black poor. .... (1904 8 )

Category: Literature - J