Part One [of Cane] shows the South's passionality through its portraits of instinctively natural sexuality, of irrationally embraced tradition and social order, and of the tragedy which erupts when these conflict. Part Two, in contrast, illustrates order rationalized and idolized; machinery, industry, and sophistication have repressed and purged persons of any genuine passion. Despite its also offering tragedy, then, that the South at least experiences the passions of love, lust, anger, and murderous hate is preferred to the sterility of the North; Part Three, then, shows the incompatibility of the Northern lifestyle in the South. (p. 320)

Ambivalence and ultimately failure in human interrelationships seem to characterize not only the episodes of Part One but also those of the entire work…. The intensity of [the failure to communicate] is tragic…. (p. 321)

This tragedy is so deep because of the meaning that interaction has for Toomer, for his characters seeking...