Jean Toomer's Novel "Cane"
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Jean Toomer's Cane is a beautiful, provocative work that challenges readers in many ways. The book was first published in 1923, and the innovative quality of its narrative structure and its unusual language, mark it as a work that was far in advance of its time. Cane may, at first, seem confusing to the reader who expects the standard A-to-Z narrative structure found in many novels. But, one of the great pleasures of the book is the reader's share in the emergence of its structure. What seems like a mere collection of sketches, poems, and short stories, evolves as a coherent whole. But, the architecture of the book is not created out of the usual bricks and mortar of continuing characters, consistent locale, or an integrated plot. Instead, it is built up from delicate arches of allusion, variations in style, and thematic connections that the reader will either catch or miss. If the reader allows a predisposition toward standard narratives to get in the way of the interplay of all these echoing sights and sounds, then she/he will be disappointed by Cane. Such a reader will never see it as more than a collection of unconnected pieces. There is nothing easy about the process of reading this book. Though, on the surface, the writing is not particularly difficult, the reader must perform a share of the work. The best novels are not those that just lie there and meet every expectation of a reader who enjoys going through the same six plots over and over. The best liter
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gradually becomes more aware of the narrators' importance in the presentation of the stories and begins looking for the effects of their biases.
The first section of the book is about connectedness. The promiscuous, earthy women in the stories were connected to the earth and to long traditions that extended past the centuries of slavery and exile. Yet, these women are not connected with other people, with their own times, or with the future. The second section is about separateness -- the lack of connection among African Americans living in Washington and Chicago. When the African Americans sought a better life and tried to jump suddenly into the urban world, they were unprepared. Several characters in this section reflect the difficulties that develop when the emerging black society tried to model itself on white society and made distinctions regarding color. But the major emphasis in the section is on the separations between men and women. In this section, the pieces are longer and tend to dwell in much greater detail on specific incidents.
The story of Avey brings the women of part one forward into the new world of the North. But, in this section the focus shifts to the failure of men to achieve connections wit
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1935
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
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