Processing Cane

I stumbled upon an interesting analogy (I'd like to say that I thought of it myself, but it just wouldn't be true) which suggests that the black characters in Toomer's book are "stalks of sugar cane to be cut down by the American society of the early 20th century." 
In the rural, natural world of Georgia, the women are "sirens" or "sex-goddesses," desired by men who "are driven by lust or rage, almost stereotypes of the savage African."  These characters are raw sugar cane, viewed as unprocessed and unrefined.  The characters we meet in Washington do seemed more cultured, more refined, but the refining process, one of pressing and boiling, has been painful, and left our characters "broken by society and warped by their own passions.
In Blood Moon Burning, old David Georgia stirs his cane syrup while Tom Burwell chews on a cane-stalk.  Tom's passion for Louisa drives him to murder Bob Stone.  Tom is dealt with quickly by a white mob.  I guess one could say Tom was processed right there in the old cotton factory.  In Box Seat, Dan Moore is rejected by Muriel even though she recognizes the goodness in him.  "But, he don't fit in,"  she laments.  Dan is frustrated by Muriel's attitude and then, enraged by the dwarf's presentation to her.  Dan would probably like to jump onstage and do a "Tom Burwell number" on that dwarf, but, instead, he lets off some steam by jumping up and shouting "JESUS WAS ONCE A LEPER!" He picks a fight with the "corn-foot man,"  then stomps away. 

The refining process has affected the characters in the Washington section of Cane.  They "seem better in some ways, yet not in others." And although, "the exteriors can be made to seem different," the blacks in Washington are "also lonely and impotent in true communication."
Works Cited:  http://hackwriters.com/Cane
LouAnne Pillers