# Esther — Cane character guide

> Esther in Cane by Jean Toomer.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0015-part-i-esther

## Snapshot

A light-skinned storekeeper's daughter in a small Southern town who waits years for a wandering preacher to return and claim her.

## Who they are

Esther sells lard and snuff to black faces that drift through her father's store, and she barely sees them; her mind is fixed on Barlo, the magnetic cotton-picker and vagrant preacher she has decided she loves. She resolves to tell him so, tucks the resolution under her pillow like wedding cake, and then does not see him for five years while her hair thins and her face pales to the color of dust. When Barlo finally returns in a new car, rich from wartime cotton, Esther's dormant will flares up—and the town watches Jim Crane's girl with pity and suspicion.

## Relationships

### [Barlo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cane_se/characters/barlo)

_psychological_

Barlo is an object of Esther's obsessive fascination, representing a raw, primal blackness she both desires and fears.

### [Barlo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cane_se/characters/barlo)

_psychological_

Barlo is an object of Esther's obsessive fascination, representing a raw, primal blackness she both desires and fears.

## In the story

### [Esther](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cane_se/chapters/part-i-esther)

Protagonist who dreams of and visits Barlo, seeking connection and meaning.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cane_se/chapters/part-i-i)

A nine-year-old girl with serious, chalk-white face and soft curls; she is initially uninterested in the loafing men but is transfixed by Barlo's trance.

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

Esther is the central character of this chapter, experiencing dreams and fantasies about rescuing a baby, and later working in her father's store while pining for Barlo.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cane_se/chapters/part-i-iii)

A twenty-seven-year-old woman who sells lard and snuff; she is lean, beaten, and listless until Barlo's return ignites a desperate, obsessive desire in her.

### [Calling Jesus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cane_se/chapters/part-ii-calling-jesus)

The unnamed woman whose soul is likened to a little dog; her loneliness and spiritual yearning are central.

## Links

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