McGraw-Hill OnlineMcGraw-Hill Higher EducationLearning Center
Student Center | Instructor Center | Information Center | Home
Electronic Resources
Internet Primer
Career Considerations
Summary & Paraphrasing
Avoiding Plagiarism
Study Skills Primer
Basic Concepts
How to Write about Literature
An Introduction to Argument
Exercise in Literary Analysis
American Lit and the Internet
About the Author
Orientation
Key Concepts
Essay Questions
Multiple Choice Quiz
Matching Quiz
Fill in the Blanks
True or False
Links
Texts Online
Feedback
Help Center


The American Tradition in Literature, Volume 2 Book Cover
The American Tradition in Literature, Volume 2, 10/e
George Perkins, Eastern Michigan University
Barbara Perkins, University of Toledo-Toledo


Orientation

Jean Toomer's "Karintha" is a lyrical story of a young black girl, in temperament and effect like Faulkner's Eula Mae Varner, a natural, lusty beauty, contemptuous of her male suitors who recognizes her charms when bouncing her "hobby horse" on their knees. "Reapers" captures the syncopations of the quickened blade of the scythe in the hands of Negro field hands and the horrific consequences of the slow swaths through the tall grasses. "November Cotton Song" evokes the passing of the growing and labor season into winter, and a revelation, possible only after the toil of the working season has been suspended: When there is nothing left to do, people are open to inspiration found deeply within.