Jean Toomer, in her novel Cane, brings together the problems facing the black community in the United States through the lens of characters who struggle with conflicts that arise due to racism both in North and South. These issues include struggling with masculinity, femininity and gender roles, being biracial and not fitting into one solid community, and having dreams that are out of reach due to of the oppressive white power structure in America. One story in particular in Cane that exposes the deeply painful effects that racial oppression and violence have on Black Americans is Toomer's "Kabnis." Through Kabnis, an educated black male character who feels he cannot achieve his dreams or express his full potential due to racial violence in the South, Jean Toomer sheds light on the consistently oppressive white power system in the United States that does not allow blacks to achieve equality, even if they become scholars and artists. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Kabnis' Dilemma provides an example of what might, in the words of Langston Hughes, happen "to a dream deferred," as Kabnis begins to lose his mind due to his inability to explore the beauty of the world, which it is his true desire. As an educated black man from the North, Kabnis faces a difficult time in the South finding the beauty he desires in the world. Between lynchings and racial oppression in the South, Kabnis is tormented by the desire for beauty and knowledge. He states: “There is a radiant beauty in the night that touches and. . . it tortures me. . . In any case, what is beauty if not ugliness if it hurts you? (Toomer, 114). Additionally, Kabnis is biracial, meaning he experiences prejudice from both whites and blacks in the South. Kabnis' inability to fully identify with a racial group makes him an outsider and causes him to experience both loneliness and extreme paranoia. While Kabnis is discussing racial violence in his county with two other highly educated black men, someone throws a rock through the window with a note that says, “You from the north. . . it's time to leave. Let's move on now” (124). Kabnis assumes the message is from white people and fears for his life. When he later discovers that the blacks threw the stone, he is amazed and confused. Because slavery, segregation, and racial oppression at the hands of white America created such a divide between whites and blacks, Kabnis, as a biracial man, is not desired by southern whites nor blacks. This dilemma left Kabnis feeling profoundly alone and afraid. Kabnis begins drinking to calm his nerves due to the constant fear he lives in and the lack of beauty in the world he longs for and cannot reach. Because Kabnis is found drinking during the day, which is taboo in the South, Kabnis is fired from his teaching job by a black man named Hansby, who believes that the black community must uphold the highest moral standards to achieve equality. Hansby represents a black individual with internalized racism, as he is a character who believes that blacks must exhibit exquisite behavior if they want to be considered equal to whites. In “Kabnis,” however, Jean Toomer presents a very old, blind, deaf, former slave black man and reveals a truth about sin in the United States. When the old ex-slave mutters the word “sin,” Kabnis yells back, “Shut up. What do you know about sin, you old black bastard,” implying that he is tired of being confronted for committing sins such as drinking during the day (158). But the old man finally states, “This sin has been solved . . . on white.