What are the motifs in Cane by Jean Toomer?

The idea of alienation does not become apparent until the book's second two sections, although once it is revealed there it becomes visible in hindsight in the earlier parts. The short prose piece "Seventh Street," which begins the second section, introduces the idea of urban isolation, showing the city street as the product of social inconsistency, a lonely place that is busy with people. The characters presented in this section have less social pressure to stay segregated than exists in the segregated South, but even with that relative freedom, they find themselves unable to understand one another well enough to enter into satisfactory relationships.