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Cora
Rhobert is the titular and sole character of the vignette "Rhobert." The narration portrays Rhobert as a man who struggles despite the success he has achieved in life. For example, Rhobert has spindly, crooked legs because he had rickets as a child (rickets is a preventable bone disease caused by insufficient Vitamin D and calcium intake, and so the fact that Rhobert had the disease suggests a childhood of poverty and hardship). As an adult, Rhobert carries his struggles like a "monstrous diver's helmet," or an old, crumbling house on his head, imagery that builds on houses as a symbol of the societal rules and norms that limit the opportunities available to Black men like Rhobert. In the vignette, onlookers watch and fail to help Rhobert as he struggles under the weight of his struggles, and he sinks deeper into the mud.
Rhobert Quotes in Cane
The Cane quotes below are all either spoken by Rhobert or refer to Rhobert. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
18. Rhobert
Quotes
Rhobert wears a house, like a monstrous diver’s helmet, on his head. His legs are banty-bowed and shaky because as a child he had rickets. He is way down. Rods of the house like antennae of a dead thing, stuffed, prop up the air. He is way down. He is sinking. His house is a dead thing that weights him down. He is sinking as a diver would sink in mud should the water be drawn off. Life is a murky, wiggling, microscopic water that compresses him. Compresses his helmet and would crush it the minute that he pulled his head out. He has to keep it in. Life is water that is being drawn off.
Brother, life is water that is being drawn off.
Brother, life is water that is being drawn off.
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Rhobert Quotes in Cane
The Cane quotes below are all either spoken by Rhobert or refer to Rhobert. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
18. Rhobert
Quotes
Rhobert wears a house, like a monstrous diver’s helmet, on his head. His legs are banty-bowed and shaky because as a child he had rickets. He is way down. Rods of the house like antennae of a dead thing, stuffed, prop up the air. He is way down. He is sinking. His house is a dead thing that weights him down. He is sinking as a diver would sink in mud should the water be drawn off. Life is a murky, wiggling, microscopic water that compresses him. Compresses his helmet and would crush it the minute that he pulled his head out. He has to keep it in. Life is water that is being drawn off.
Brother, life is water that is being drawn off.
Brother, life is water that is being drawn off.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
