3598 Fall 2019
Micro-Essay / Close Reading Assignment #1
Due: in class, hard copy, September 19
Format: double space (no extra space between paragraphs), 12-point font, 1” margins on
all sides.
Length: 1 ½ pages (minimum) – 2 ½ pages (maximum
Select one prompt:
1. The story “Rhobert” from Cane opens with an account how how Rhobert wears “a house, like
a monstrous diver’s helmet, on his head” (53). What does this house symbolize? What does the
story of Rhobert sinking beneath the house allegorize? Use specific evidence from the story, and
connections to the rest of Cane if needed, to construct an explanation that answers both
questions.
2. In “Esther,” white men spit tobacco juice on Barlo before he announces the vision he’s had
(27). Later, Esther has a dream in which men spit tobacco juice on a roaring fire in the middle of
town (30). What is the meaning of these similar images of spitting? How are they intended to
communicate some level of meaning of the story? Use specific evidence from the story, and
connections to the rest of Cane if needed, to construct an explanation that answers both
questions.
3. The fourth stanza of the poem “Her Lips are Copper Wire”—“(her words play softly up and
down / dewy corridors of billboards)”—differs from the other stanzas in multiple ways, and
seems out of place on an initial reading of the poem. What is this stanza contributing to the
meaning of the poem as a whole? What does Toomer intend to convey with the image of “dewy
corridors of billboards?” Use specific evidence from the poem, and connections to the rest of
Cane if needed, to construct an explanation that answers both questions.