heart:" the "great design" of Toomer's Cane, William Dow addresses the themes and intentions of Toomer through both and interpretation of the work and through Toomer's own words in personal documents. Dow in fact begins his work with a quote from a letter Toomer wrote to a contemporary: "I want great art. This means I want great design." Jean Toomer, "Open Letter to Gorham Munson" The quote sets the tone for his literary analysis and develops the idea that there are design meanings within the work that transcend the criticism of Cane. Through this imaginative and interpretive style Dow builds a case for his thesis:

Cane's narrator, (1) a teller in a social community, adopts a narrative design that shows us how a self-reflective storyteller (2) can "essentialize" and "spiritualize" experience. At the same time, Toomer undertakes a rhetorical project of positioning his readers in a variety of identifications, which...
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