Cane

by

Jean Toomer

Carma Character Analysis

Carma is a Black sharecropper living in Georgia with her husband, Bane. Because her husband’s work frequently took him away, Carma took a series of lovers. When Bane found out, he killed two men and landed in the chain gang. Afterwards, Carma is alone, but she’s physically as strong as a man.

Carma Quotes in Cane

The Cane quotes below are all either spoken by Carma or refer to Carma . 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:
Navigating Identity Theme Icon
).
7. Carma Quotes

The sun is hammered to a band of gold. Pine-needles, like mazda, are brilliantly aglow. No rain has come to take the rustle from the falling sweet-gum leaves. Over in the forest, across the swamp, a sawmill blows its closing whistle. Smoke curls up. Marvelous web spun by the spider sawdust pile. Curls up and spreads itself pine-high above the branch, a single silver band along the eastern valley. A black boy…you are the most sleepiest man I ever seed, Sleeping beauty…cradled on a gray mule, guided by the hollow sound of cowbells, heads for them through a rusty cotton field. From down the railroad track, the chugchug of a gas engine announces that the repair gang is coming home. A girl in the yard of a whitewashed shack not much larger than the stack of worn ties piled before it, sings. Her voice is loud. Echoes, like rain, sweep the valley.

Related Characters: Narrator of “Carma” (speaker), Carma , Bane
Related Symbols: Smoke
Page Number: 12-13
Explanation and Analysis:
29. Kabnis Quotes

Their meeting is a swift sun-burst. Lewis impulsively moves towards her. His mind flashes images of her life in the southern town. He sees the nascent woman, her flesh already stiffening to cartilage, drying to bone. Her spirit-bloom, even now touched sullen, bitter. Her rich beauty fading…He wants to— He stretches forth his hands to hers. He takes them. They feel like warm cheeks against his palms. The sun-burst from her eyes floods up and haloes him. Christ-eyes, his eyes look to her. Fearlessly she loves into them. Sand then something happens. Her face blanches. Awkwardly she draws away. The sin-bogies of respectable southern colored folks clamor at her: “Look out! Be a good girl. A good girl. Look out!”

Related Characters: Karintha , Carma , Fern , Avey , Ralph Kabnis , Lewis , Fred Halsey , Carrie K. , Stella, Cora
Page Number: 138
Explanation and Analysis:
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Carma Quotes in Cane

The Cane quotes below are all either spoken by Carma or refer to Carma . 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:
Navigating Identity Theme Icon
).
7. Carma Quotes

The sun is hammered to a band of gold. Pine-needles, like mazda, are brilliantly aglow. No rain has come to take the rustle from the falling sweet-gum leaves. Over in the forest, across the swamp, a sawmill blows its closing whistle. Smoke curls up. Marvelous web spun by the spider sawdust pile. Curls up and spreads itself pine-high above the branch, a single silver band along the eastern valley. A black boy…you are the most sleepiest man I ever seed, Sleeping beauty…cradled on a gray mule, guided by the hollow sound of cowbells, heads for them through a rusty cotton field. From down the railroad track, the chugchug of a gas engine announces that the repair gang is coming home. A girl in the yard of a whitewashed shack not much larger than the stack of worn ties piled before it, sings. Her voice is loud. Echoes, like rain, sweep the valley.

Related Characters: Narrator of “Carma” (speaker), Carma , Bane
Related Symbols: Smoke
Page Number: 12-13
Explanation and Analysis:
29. Kabnis Quotes

Their meeting is a swift sun-burst. Lewis impulsively moves towards her. His mind flashes images of her life in the southern town. He sees the nascent woman, her flesh already stiffening to cartilage, drying to bone. Her spirit-bloom, even now touched sullen, bitter. Her rich beauty fading…He wants to— He stretches forth his hands to hers. He takes them. They feel like warm cheeks against his palms. The sun-burst from her eyes floods up and haloes him. Christ-eyes, his eyes look to her. Fearlessly she loves into them. Sand then something happens. Her face blanches. Awkwardly she draws away. The sin-bogies of respectable southern colored folks clamor at her: “Look out! Be a good girl. A good girl. Look out!”

Related Characters: Karintha , Carma , Fern , Avey , Ralph Kabnis , Lewis , Fred Halsey , Carrie K. , Stella, Cora
Page Number: 138
Explanation and Analysis: