A Fixed Mindset: Slavery and Its Effect on the Minds of Black Americans in Jean Toomer’s Cane Brianna S. Robles English 336 – Dr. Eurie Dahn
How does the environment one has been accustomed to affect the way they behave and view the world? In Jean Toomer’s book, Cane, the author shows how the traumatic reality of slavery imposed on black people has caused them to react in ways cohesive to what they have experienced. Despite the debate on whether or not Toomer was worthy enough to write this book on the experiences of black people in the South, the reader is introduced to the mindset of many black characters. Even though many of the characters had different experiences in Southern states, their trauma manifested itself in similar ways. The time period of the book highlights the struggles black people had to endure after migrating from Southern states into Northern territory. Despite being free from slavery, the residue from systematic oppression seemingly followed them wherever they went. In the book, Toomer brings light to these issues and helps the reader to understand how the effects of being oppressed and enslaved has created a mindset parallel to these experiences. The book focuses on how trauma from things seen and experienced during slavery creates a cycle that black people unknowingly participate in. In Jean Toomer’s Cane, the author uses chronotope, the connection between time and place, to highlight how the trauma and learned behavior imposed on black people from slavery has created a fixed mindset they cannot be set free from. In the first part of Toomer’s Cane, the reader is introduced to a woman by the name of Fern, who ultimately is physically desired by most men she comes into contact with. Instantly, when the reader begins the section they are familiarized with her physical characteristics, specifically her eyes. Her eyes being the main focus for the majority of the chapter, the men who were attracted to her eyes
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The Journal of Undergraduate Research
