Summary

In Chapter V, Jefferson considers Cather’s The Song of the Lark, “a work of art that enchants and erases her” (101). For years, Jefferson has studied and taught the work of female writers. However, the more she examined The Song of the Lark, the more blatant Cather’s obsession with whiteness became. Jefferson wanted to consider the absence of black bodies in Cather’s work, but feared how her predominantly white, female students would respond (103).

Jefferson presents edited versions of her teaching notes on the subject. She offers passages from Cather’s text which magnify the heroine “Thea’s milky skin and flaxen looks” (107). Although Thea was meant to embody “American classicism,” her whiteness negated black Americans’ contributions to constructing “American art and culture” (109).

Despite her feelings, Jefferson went years without broaching these topics in class. She feared excluding herself “from...