# Tom Burwell — Cane character guide

> Tom Burwell in Cane by Jean Toomer.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Tom

**First appearance:** 0021-part-i-blood-burning-moon

## Snapshot

A black laborer in rural Georgia whose quiet strength and fatal confrontation with a white man's son turn a night of cane-field longing into a lynching.

## Who they are

Tom Burwell works the factory town and loves Louisa, waiting for her at the well while the cane whispers around them. When Bob Stone rushes from the shadows, Tom fights fair and wins—until a knife forces his hand and his blade opens Bob's throat. Rooted beside the well as the searchlights come, Tom becomes the fixed point around which the whole South's violence organizes itself, a man whose body the mob will burn twice over.

## Relationships

### [Louisa](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cane_se/characters/louisa)

_romantic_

Louisa is romantically involved with Tom Burwell, but their relationship is shadowed by racial violence and tragedy.

### [Bob Stone](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cane_se/characters/bob_stone)

_rivalry_

Bob Stone is a white man who competes with Tom Burwell for Louisa's affection, leading to violent confrontation.

### [Louisa](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cane_se/characters/louisa)

_romantic_

Louisa is romantically involved with Tom Burwell, but their relationship is shadowed by racial violence and tragedy.

### [Bob Stone](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cane_se/characters/bob_stone)

_rivalry_

Bob Stone is a white man who competes with Tom Burwell for Louisa's affection, leading to violent confrontation.

### [Bob Stone](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cane_se/characters/bob_stone)

_rivalry_

Bob Stone is a white man who competes with Tom Burwell for Louisa's affection, leading to violent confrontation.

## In the story

### [Blood-Burning Moon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cane_se/chapters/part-i-blood-burning-moon)

A Black man who fights Bob Stone over Louisa and kills him, resulting in his lynching.

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

Called Big Boy; a field worker who loves Louisa but struggles to express it; his blackness balances against Bob Stone's whiteness in her mind.

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

Professes his love for Louisa, fights Will Manning over gossip, and threatens violence against Bob Stone.

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

Tom Burwell is involved with Louisa and fights Bob Stone, ultimately killing him before being captured and lynched by a white mob.

## Links

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