The short story "Blood-Burning Moon" by Jean Toomer is part the book "Cane," which offers a poignant portrait of the African-American life during the segregation. Toomer was an influential and inspiring figure of the Harlem Renaissance, the most influential movement in African American literary history, which represents a cultural awakening of black literature and consciousness worldwide. The story revolves around the conflict between a white man and an African-American, who compete for the affection of Louise, an African-American woman. Eventually, the rivalry between the two ends up with a fight in which Tom, the African-American man, kills Bob. As soon as white people discovered what happened, they immediately have lynched the poor Bob by tying him to a stake and burning him. The realism the author uses to describe racial violence is merged with the folk songs and vivid imagery, which well describe the long interracial wars occurred after slavery was abolished. Unfortunately, black people were still considered as inferior, and only apparently equal to whites--"separate but equal." Therefore, white racism plays the lion's share in “Blood-Burning Moon” by illustrating the coexistence of two distinct reality in the same town, the white town, and the black "factory town." …show more content…
In its poetry, one appreciates the author use of imagery, music, and rhythm, which recall his African-American literary heritage. For instance, in the poem "I too," Hughes gives voice to an African-American living in the shadow of a white family of which he could be presumably