# Dorris — Cane character guide

> Dorris in Cane by Jean Toomer.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Glorious Dorris

**First appearance:** 0030-part-ii-theater

## Snapshot

A dancer whose body becomes the stage itself, Dorris whirls for a man whose shadowed face turns her living dance into a dead thing.

## Who they are

Dorris dances as Glorious Dorris under soft pink lights, and when she looks to John for recognition she finds only his dream staring back, so she rushes offstage and pulls her hair in a dressing-room full of paste and paint. Her soul trails behind her like a little thrust-tailed dog left whimpering in the vestibule each night, and her pal Mame can only offer 'nothin doin' as comfort. She matters because her ache for someone to truly see her exposes how easily another person's dream can erase a living woman.

## Relationships

### [Paul Johnson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cane_se/characters/paul_johnson)

_romantic_

Dorris is a flirtatious white woman who pursues Paul Johnson, creating racial and social tension.

## In the story

### [Theater](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cane_se/chapters/part-ii-theater)

A chorus girl with bobbed black hair and lemon-colored face, who dances with passionate abandon and seeks John's recognition, only to be crushed by his distant dream.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cane_se/characters/dorris
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cane_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cane_se/characters