Cane Lesson Plan

Have students discuss the broken circle sketches in the breaks between the sections. Now that they have finished the book, how do they understand the sketches as functioning in the overall economy of the story?

Students should recognize that the structure of Cane has been circular and that the sketches are literal representations of this. Students will provide different reasons for the circles being broken. For example, the first semi-circle looks a bit like a rising sun, which relates to the motif of dusk. Perhaps it means to indicate the end of the reign of "night" (darkness, slavery, the dominion of the South). The second broken circle is closer to being a whole, but...