The Women of Cane 9/24

Honestly, I was more than a little confused by this week’s readings from Cane. It’s obvious that he was heavily influenced by the lives of women in the south, and was not afraid to write about sexual interaction between men and women, both black and white as I guess pretty common occurrence. But I come away from the reading confused, like I’m supposed to understand the much deeper meaning behind this, but don’t. Therefore, I’ve decide to use my blog entry to discuss “Esther”, “Carma” and “Becky” in the order of how little I actually understand and not the order in which they appear in the book. Here goes…
I was especially confused by “Esther.” Perhaps I wasn’t reading closely, but I wasn’t even aware she was black until getting to the section where she is twenty-two and working in her father’s store. (I guess I took the being description of her “chalk-white face” to literally.) Furthermore I don’t understand King Barlo’s character. I understand that he must be some sort of oddity in the community, and obviously there are those who hold him in high esteem for his ability to have visions. I also discern that he is speaking of slavery when he rises from his trace and tells the crowd about the big black man that comes from the old coast (21.) Esther also seems to know his significance when she thinks of him when she thinks of him as “Promoter of church benefits. Of colored fairs.” (23.) But what the baby symbolize and why is she so determined to be with him? Is it some reference to the fact that she is light skinned and he, as the baby in her dream is dark? Furthermore, what’s the point of the end; “The thought comes suddenly that conception with a drunken man must be a mighty sin.” (25.) Is it really some sort of morality ending, or does or has it to do with the thought of having the black baby as in her dream? I mean, she was planning on sleeping with him to begin with, was she not worried that would be considered a sin?
Similarly, I get the feeling that “Carma is some sort of morality tale as to the role of women. Obviously, Carma did not follow gender roles considering it is well known that she is strong any man, and yet, men are still so interested in her that she is able to be with them when her husband is away on the gang. What I don’t understand is if she intended to kill herself or just make her husband believe she did, he was obviously very angry that she was with other men while he was away, did he really intend to save her?(11) I guess what I’m really asking is, what happened at the end? Did he kill the man who had found his wife?
(Just a note, is anyone else pronouncing her name like Karma?)
Lastly, “Becky” was one I think I can understand, or at least make some sense of based on the theme we’ve seen so far in class. Obviously, this is very clearly a story about the dangerous of mixing the races. Everyone, both black and white outwardly dislikes Becky, the stupid, crazy white girl having a black man’s baby. Yet some how out of the kindness of their heart, they leave her food and prayers. (while none the less having run her out of town.) As the story sates over and over, no one ever saw her, but they do see her baby boy, who soon after is caring for another baby, also of mixed race. As the boys grow up they find they have no place in the town among the white or the black, and so leave town, perhaps leaving their mother Becky behind. Somewhere after that, it turns into a type of ghost story, the kind every small town has and all the movies make fun of. I guess I picture the narrator of this story like the kids running away from Boo Radley (To Kill A Mocking Bird.) However, that they never even find out whether Becky was dead, or even if she had been their all along. Rather, they assume that if she was still alive and living there at the time of the cabin collapse her body would be found beneath the mound, with the influence of the Bible once again passing judgment on her.