South vs. North: A Contrast in Characterization

South vs. North: A Contrast in Characterization  

    Contrasting the characterizations of the Georgia and Northern sections of Cane, Darwin T. Turner, in "Contrasts and Limitations in Cane," posits that the difference "is between a natural response to sexual drives and a self-conscious, frustrating inability to realize oneself" (209). Generally, the women of Toomer's South are portrayed as sexual beings unrestrained by social conventions, "respond[ing] naturally and instinctively to their urges" (209). However, although these women may be liberated in the expression of their sexualities, that does not imply that Southern society openly embraces their natural behavior. Southern society, in Toomer's conception, compensates for this sexual expression in an act of collective self-delusion: "Townspeople can accept aberrants only by pretending that there has been no deviation from the socially acceptable" (209).
   
    In the Northern section of Cane, Turner posits the existence of frustration and repression in these characters, both male and female, as they fashion for themselves a more self-conscious image that rejects the seeming atavism of Southern sexual behavior (209-10). Ironically, as their moral attitudes become more urbane, Toomer seems to evoke "a yearning for a more primitive existence in which desire, not will, can be the ruling force" (211). For example, in "Theater," John "interpose[s] will between desire and action" (211). Consequently, he is consigned to live in an ascetic dream world where sexual urges are subordinate to his artificial and unnatural philosophy. Insulated by the trappings of his own mind, John risks nothing and protects himself from the harsh realities of the social world.


Work Cited:

Turner, Darwin T. "Contrasts and Limitations in Cane." Cane. Ed. Darwin T.             Turner. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1988. 207-15.


Michael Chesky