Seventh Street

The symbols I would like to focus on in Jean Toomer's Seventh Street are the "silken shirts" and "zooming Cadillacs". Cadillacs and silk shirts can be considered forms of luxury, however, they seem very out of place within the context of Seventh Street. Toomer makes it seem as if they do not belong on Seventh Street. I believe that the Cadillacs and silk shirts are representations of superficiality. In what we have read in Cane thus far, there is a difference in the country/rural life and the city life. This new lifestyle on Seventh Street is heavily influenced by materialism. With all of the "theaters, drug stores, restaurants, and cabarets" it is possible for one to feel the pressures to become "cultured" within the city. However, Toomer is saying that all of this luxury portrayed by the people on Seventh Street is fake. Although they may drive luxury vehicles and wear fine clothing, ultimately their pockets still hurt, and their social status will never change.