Representation of Harlem Renaissance Spirit in Jean Toomer’s Cane

Abstract

Jean Toomer’s Cane stands as an outstanding novel which highlights the African American culture of the Harlem Renaissance period. Harlem Renaissance refers to the flowering of African American cultural and intellectual life during the 1920s. Karintha, Carma, Dorris, Kabnis, Halsey, Hanby are the black characters in the novel who attempt to uplift the African American culture through music, dance, art, literature, language and so on. Kabnis, the main protagonist of the novel, goes to South in Georgia to teach in a school in the hope of discovering his root that marks the novelist’s exploration of the root of African American people to preserve their identity and culture.