In one story or poem from Cane show how emotion (perhaps stimulated by sight,
sound, scent, touch, and physical memory) or desire (sexual, spiritual, or material
longing) causes personal or social conflict.
Perhaps one poem that best describes emotion and desire in Cane would be “Karintha”. “Karintha” is a third person lyrical narrative that presents a portrait or an image of a persona named Karintha. Karintha is perceivably a woman yearned by men for her ravishing beauty as she resembles “the dusk on the eastern horizon”, and this line will be repeated all through-out the poem so to insist this attractive feature. The description presented the desire on Karintha even as she was a child, and how presented her to be as “perfect as dusk when the sun goes down”. She was a “wild flash” epitomizing the vibrancy of life and at sundown, she was still the “vivid colour”. Eventually Karintha matures in this narrative in such a young age and as a woman she becomes impregnated. meshes visual and touch stimulants to draw watching eyes at Karintha. Besides the dusk of the eastern horizon, repeats how Karintha “carries beauty” from her childhood to when she is pregnant. However, the repetition is not only performed so to emphasize the inherent attraction in Karintha but to also stress the disappointment that will be revealed in the final line: “But Karintha is a woman, and she has a child.” The very passage concretizes the conflict of the persona as there is an inability to claim Karintha despite her stunning beauty. Karintha has an inherent complicatedness that will make her elusive much to the disappointment and dismay of the persona. It is clear that Karintha is a little girl grown too early and she had submitted herself to men until she was left pregnant with an unwanted child. Clearly the persona is so drawn and haunted by Karintha. This is not typical in a poem in those times as women (black women especially) are seen to be lower than men. They would immediately be branded as prostitutes, detested, mocked and looked down upon. Yet the persona is so much attached to Karintha despite the circumstances. Somehow the attraction is not just physical or sexual but also spiritual. The repetition of “Oh can’t you see her” challenges the reader to try to look beyond the physical to find Karintha’s essence which completes the beauty of her dark skin or dusky beauty. There is an expressed fragility and mysterious at this female, who is still very much a girl.
The conflict is on a personal level because the persona somehow desires Karintha when it is forbidden. The poem is delivered in a restrained level that the persona cannot say anything more than the beauty Karintha carries or the dusk of the eastern horizon. These lines are repeated over and over, thus presenting a pain that is repressed and unspoken. The persona never tells more information other than these nor does the persona inform the readers why Karintha killed the child. Karintha may also suggest a social conflict because it presents a girl who has lost her virginity at such a young age. It presents woman as a sexual object of men. One possible interpretation is that Karintha was actually raped, which would not be a far off inference knowing how she was already desired by men even at age 12. It can very much be a tragic story of a girl who becomes a victim of an oppressive society who only sees her as a mean towards sexual satisfaction. It can be the tragic story of an aborted child who was born out of wedlock or out of rape due to the secrecy and mystery that embraces the poem. No one can speak entirely of what had happened.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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