Previous
21. Storm Ending
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Cane, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Navigating Identity
Racism in the Jim Crow Era
Feminine Allure
Nature vs. Society
The Power and Limitations of Language
Summary
Analysis
The Howard Theater sleeps through the long morning and only starts to wake up in the late afternoon, when John, the manager’s brother, arrives and begins to oversee rehearsals. John loves the exhilarating feel of the theater coming back to life each day, as the musicians and dancers arrive. In his mind, John addresses the dancers, begging them to dance with their wild abandon so that he can enjoy it before the director arrives to tame their moves. John watches the dancers warming up with increasing excitement.
The Howard Theater was a cultural center in the Black community of early 20th century Washington D.C. It thus reflects the vibrancy of Black culture during the period of the Great Migration. This is part of what John finds so exciting about working there. The other part has to do with the beauty and feminine allure of the dancers.
Themes
As the director arrives and begins rehearsals, John notices Dorris, a beautiful and modish dancer. Dorris notices John noticing her, and she asks the other dancers about him. They tell her not to bother flirting with him—as the manager’s brother and as a dictie (upper-class) Black man, he’s out of her league. But Dorris thinks she can seduce anyone, and John would be a prize. At the very least, he would give her expensive presents. And maybe she could even get him to marry her and give her a comfortable life. As John watches, he thinks about how lovely Dorris is, and how much he’d love to have sex with her.
Dorris is very beautiful, and she knows it. And unlike other beautiful women elsewhere in the book (like Karintha and Fern), she appears intent on using her beauty and charm to intentionally draw the interest of an eligible man. Her interest in John lies in his class and the status and things his comparative wealth can provide. One of the reasons Cane was an important book when it was published was because of the way it portrayed Black Americans as a varied and complex rather than homogenous group. The class dynamic between Dorris and John typifies this realism.
Themes
But John watches Dorris dance, he gets caught up in his own fantasy about her. In it, she waits for him by the stage door. When he takes her arm in his, they’re walking down a tree-lined avenue rather than an urban alleyway. John takes Dorris home and reads his “manuscript” to her, and when he gets to the part in which Dorris dances, she dances for him.
It's telling that nature plays an important role in John’s fantasy, even though he’s clearly an urbanite, since nature is a source of raw power and potential throughout Cane. Similarly, John fantasizes about his power in the world through language. Like Cane itself, he wishes to create the world he wants to live in through words. But what readers have seen of Dorris doesn’t suggest that she’s interested in serving John’s story so much as getting John to serve her interests. The power of language involves not just the prowess of the writer—it also depends on the receptivity of the audience.
Themes
On the stage of the Howard Theater, Dorris stops dancing and looks at John. His eyes are distant; he’s lost in his fantasy. He doesn’t see the flesh and blood her at all. She rushes from the stage and to the dressing room in tears. Her friend finds her there and reiterates that John is out of her league.
Onstage, Dorris realizes that John’s fantasy doesn’t involve her. Readers might be inclined to agree. The only inspiration John’s fantasy seems to have taken from the real Dorris is her good looks. Dorris is frustrated. Although life in a city and a vibrant, Northern Black community offer her more opportunities, she remains limited by her circumstances.
Themes
Get the entire Cane LitChart as a printable PDF.
