Cane

The story begins in the middle of an autumn night with Ralph Kabnis in a Georgia cabin, unable to fall asleep. Kabnis came from New York to be a teacher, but he is miserable in the South. He curses God and kills a hen that disturbs him. It is Sunday, and he is at least looking forward to the day. Finally, he falls asleep. Part 2 begins in Fred Halsey’s home. Fred has British and some faint Black heritage. He, Kabnis, and Professor Layman (a well-traveled Black man, preacher, and teacher) discuss recent incidents of anti-Black violence in the South. When they were at church earlier that morning, Kabnis had left early because he could not tolerate the shouting. He is used to a quieter church up north. The men comment on how the loudest shouters are always the worst sinners. They also don’t like Samuel Hanby, the uppity school principal; they also comment on Lewis, an unusual but intelligent newcomer. With the sound of the second church service of the day in the distance, the conversation turns back to racial violence, and Layman tells Kabnis about the lynching of Mame Lamkins last year. After she died, a white man cut the unborn child out of her corpse and stabbed it. Horrified, Kabnis leaves, and the other men follow.

In Part 3, Kabnis is back in his cabin and paranoid that a lynch mob is coming for him. He is frightened when Halsey and Layman come, but they give him a drink and sit him down. Kabnis’s cabin is on school grounds, and the rules dictate they cannot drink there. Just then, Hanby bursts in and, seeing them drinking, fires Kabnis for violating the principles of racial uplift and respectability. When Hanby asks the other men to leave, Halsey refuses, and they argue. Then, Lewis arrives and greets the men. As they all chat, Lewis is especially drawn to Kabnis. Kabnis is drawn to Lewis, too, but resists this feeling. As Hanby and Lewis leave, they hear a woman singing. Halsey offers for Kabnis to stay with him, and Layman concludes that Kabnis isn’t fit to teach in the South.

Part 4 begins a month later; Halsey is getting very little business at his workshop. Kabnis comes and sits with him for lunch. Layman and other townsmen gradually arrive. When Lewis comes, his presence makes the townsmen uncomfortable, and they trickle out. The people in town think Lewis is “queer” and “a little wrong up here—crazy” (134). Lewis is planning to leave Georgia; the remaining four men discuss this. Mr. Ramsey—a skinny white man—enters the shop to have his hatchet handle fixed. Halsey tries to teach Kabnis how to fix it, but he is no good. When the men resume talking, Hanby enters to request repairs on his buggy and leaves again. Layman leaves as well.

Halsey’s sister, Carrie Kate, comes by with the men’s lunch. When she and Lewis lock eyes for the first time, they are both smitten. Nervous, Carrie hurries away to the basement to feed her father, who is deaf and blind. When Carrie returns, she avoids him and reports some news to Halsey; Lewis pities her and yearns to take her north with him. She leaves, and Lewis soon after her. Part 5 begins on a breezy night with Halsey leading Stella, Cora, Lewis, and Kabnis down to “the Hole” (the workshop basement). Halsey’s father sits down there, quiet and still; he does not speak besides occasional mumbling. The group has gone down there to play cards and drink, but the party is inexplicably tense. They talk about the old man and what he reminds them of—slavery, the past, Stella’s late father. Halsey pulls Lewis aside, and they discuss Halsey’s old love for Stella, his experience with racism, and Lewis’s thoughts on Kabnis. The drunken Kabnis hears them and interrupts, claiming that everyone is always talking about him. He is confrontational and insists that they talk; Kabnis goes on about his lineage of orators, his need to feed his soul, and white folks. When they finally get Kabnis to sit down, Cora seduces him. This upsets Stella, but before he can approach them, Halsey grabs Stella and kisses her. Lewis, the odd man out, leaves.

Part 6 begins with Halsey waking the groggy group early in the morning; it’s time for Kabnis to get to work in the workshop. The girls follow Halsey upstairs, but Kabnis hangs behind. He is convinced that the old man spoke last night. Alone with him, Kabnis goes on a rant accusing him of mumbling about death all night, threatening to punch him, and criticizing the old man’s dead “fish eyes” (154). Carrie K. comes down with her father’s food and tells Kabnis that Halsey has asked for him. She asks if her father has been speaking, and Kabnis says no. Suddenly, the man shakes his head slowly and repeats the word “sin.” They are frightened, but Carrie K. encourages him as he slowly puts together a sentence: “Th sin whats fixed […] upon th white folks […] f tellin Jesus—lies. O th sin th white folks ‘mitted when they made th Bible lie” (157). Carrie is teary; Kabnis is scornful. Carrie takes Kabnis’s hot face in her cool hands, calming him down. Before she begins praying, Halsey calls for them from the stairs. Kabnis stumbles to the stairs while Carrie returns to her father and says, “Jesus, come” (158). The two of them are framed in the rising sun’s light coming through the window.