"Cane"

Analytical Essay # 25245

English > Analysis
Literature > American

"Cane"

An analysis of the use of blood imagery in Jean Toomer's "Cane".

1,734 words () | 1 source | MLA | 2002 United States

Paper Summary:

Discusses the connection of blood imagery in "Cane" with death. The writer shows how not all blood imagery in the work is connected to death, and the paper re-evaluates this stance and asserts that blood imagery is a symbol of passion, separate from love. Focuses on anger and frustration, as well as the separateness of the work's characters.

From the Paper:

"Often in literary works, a recurring symbol in a work will illustrate a single theme or several closely related themes for that work. Such is true with the green light in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby or rain in Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. At first glance, though, Jean Toomer's use of blood and blood imagery in his only novel, Cane, does not follow any one pattern or serve any single theme. Instead, the settings and characters of each story and poem define the meaning of the blood's presence. Blood or blood imagery is used in connection with death, physical passion, love, anger, ancestry, and indifference. The blood and blood imagery in Cane reflect the individual emotions of the characters and speakers in the novel and serve as specific elaborations upon the many themes of the novel. However, these themes and the reactions of the novel's characters to the themes and their outcomes combine to illustrate the dark instinct of men's souls."