SOURCE: “An Incomplete Circle: Repeated Images in Part Two of Cane,” in College Language Association Journal, Vol. 29, No. 4, June, 1986, pp. 442-61.

In the following essay, Rice uncovers “a pattern of imagery” in the first and second sections of Cane.

The broad connections between Parts One and Two of Cane have been noted by several critics. Arna Bontemps points to the contrasting settings: Part One is set in the South, while Part Two is set in the North.¹ On a more specific level, Donald Ackley notes the contrast between the roads in the two sections: most of Part One is set on or around the rural Dixie Pike, while Part Two begins on the urban Seventh Street.² As Lucinda Mackethan states, “Footpaths are now busy streets.”³ Catherine Innes points out that “Rhobert” is a structural parallel to “Karintha” in the sense that it opens Part Two with images of...