The Mark Of Cain

Published in 1923, Cane is the first work of Jean Toomer. Structured by three independent but interrelated sections, Cane, a mixture of poetry, prose, short stories and drama, depicts the African-American and their lives in the rural countries in the South and the urban cities in the North in the 1920s and ’30s. Due to its distinct features and unique structures transcend literary genres, it plays an important role in the time of Harlem Renaissance and is hailed as a harbinger of the future. The success of Cane also brings great reputation to the author and confirms him as a bright morning star of a new day of the American literature, especially the African-American literature. Until now, this novel is considered as one of the best representative works of modernism, attracting an unceasing attention from the critics and readers.After its first publication, Cane is met with an enthusiastically systematic study by armies of academics from various perspectives, such as themes, writing style, narrative strategy etc.. In contrast, the domestic studies and criticism on it are in the beginning stages with less research scholars and limited research outputs. Among which, one of perspectives is to analyze the biblical metaphors in the novel. A closer reading of the book shows that the Cain allusion is an unifying theme throughout this novel, for the author once refers Cane as Cain, and most of the characters in the novel are blacks who are believed to be descendant of Cain because of the color of their skin as well as the same suffering of isolation and alienation. Thus in the present paper, a detailed study of the Cain allusion in the novel is presented with focus on the identities and fates of the characters.This thesis starts with a brief introduction to Jean Toomer and his work Cane as well as the Harlem Renaissance, which is followed by the literature review of Cane both abroad and home with an affirmation of the research perspective and significance. Given the biblical characters metaphors in the text, the next chapter is devoted to the presentation and explanation of the Archetypal Criticism of Northrop Frye.The main body of this thesis is divided into three chapters, in which the present author would explore how the Cain allusion defines each section of Cane. The first section of Cane takes place in southern Georgia and is composed of six short stories and ten poems interspersed among the narratives. Thus Chapter Three is echoed to the first section of novel with the strong Cain allusion in three sketches, also presents the rural experiences of African-American in the South. The second section of Cane contains six narratives and five poems, the setting has changed into urban cities (Washington, D.C. and Chicago) from the rural country (Georgia). The correspondent Chapter four contributes to the analysis of the identity crisis of the south immigrants under the pressure of Double Consciousness, the crisis of faith and the rootlessness of modern society. For characters in this section, the mark of Cain is expressed more as the feeling of isolation and alienation rather than the physical mark on body or skin.As the setting shifts back to the rural South, "Kabnis", the one-act play in the third section of Cane, tells the story of a Northern black man on his road to seek the meaning of identity in the South. Chapter Five traces Kabnis’s search for roots and Toomer’s pursuit of self-identity.In the Old Testament, Job says to his wife, "Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?", in reverse, the mark, being set upon Cain, who is cursed and wandering, can also be interpreted as a badge of test and protection rather than the shame.