Passing, a novel by Nella Larsen, addresses the issue of race by telling the story of two African American women - Clare Kendry and Irene Redfield - who represent different aspects of passing1. In the novel, passing refers to the process of crossing the color line, where a light skinned person who belongs to the black racial community enjoys white privilege2. However, people who pass struggle with double consciousness as they long to honor their race without necessarily being associated with it3. The novel is highly invested in ambiguity to show the fluidity and complexity of race, and how it paves the way for passing4. Passing illustrates the struggle African Americans face with their unchosen race and their attempt to control their identity …show more content…
This earns her Irene’s compassion, empathy and closure. Irene portrays her as an emotionless and catlike creature who has a difficult emotion to understand. Perhaps her father’s death has altered her psychology, hence making her more prone to danger. Clare searches for thrill by chasing after danger and freedom to make her life more exciting and fill the void created by her race and the death of her father. Her daringness gives her courage to pass, which she considers a way to tackle the obstacles her race exposes her to. She is confident in her ability to pass and fails to consider the moral consequence hence focusing only on the physicality of it. She states: “It’s such a frightfully easy thing to do. If one’s the type, all that’s needed is a little nerve” (Larsen, 25). With that being said, she understands that passing involves a risk, which she is willing to take due to her desire to dissociate herself from her race. Therefore, she keeps her racial identity a secret from her husband, fearing it would endanger their marriage and their daughter’s future5. In the beginning, Irene criticizes Clare’s lack of loyalty to her race thus claiming: “No, Clare Kendry cared nothing for the race. She only belonged to it” (Larsen, 52). Irene struggles to comprehend the lack of allegiance Clare has to her race. When John makes a joke about her race, “It was hard to believe that even Clare Kendry would permit this ridiculing of her race by an outsider, though he chanced to be her husband” (Larsen, 39). It is intriguing that Clare does not use her white privilege to defend her race and challenge her husband’s hatred of the race. Although Clare is portrayed as a very individualistic and self-loving woman who is indulged by her high class, her eagerness to be around Irene inspires her to reconnect with her black community to some
Clare explains why she decided to leave her former African American identity for one of white privileges. However,
Nella Larsen’s Passing is a novella about the past experiences of African American women ‘passing’ as whites for equal opportunities. Larsen presents the day to day issues African American women face during their ‘passing’ journey through her characters of Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry. During the reading process, we progressively realize ‘passing’ in Harlem, New York during the 1920’s becomes difficult for both of these women physically and mentally as different kinds of challenges approach ahead. Although Larsen decides the novella to be told in a third person narrative, different thoughts and messages of Irene and Clare communicate broken ideas for the reader, causing the interpretation of the novella to vary from different perspectives.
Her image of a prim and proper Southern gentlewoman clashes with the down-to-earth, easy-going lifestyle of the lower middle class. Her incongruity as a refined Southern gentlewoman in an industrial, lower-middle class New Orleans neighbourhood marks her status as an outsider and contributes to her final
One subject they tend to talk about often is motherhood. Larsen continues her use of character foiling through the contrasting of Irene’s and Clare’s feelings about motherhood to emphasize how their contrasting situations influence their feelings. Clare does not enjoy being a mother. She believes that it is too much pressure, especially because she doesn’t want her daughter’s skin to reveal that she has a black parent. She says, “I nearly died of terror the whole nine months before Margery was born for fear she might be dark.
To advance in society, the characters must stick together and not attempt to tear each other apart. It is hypocritical for someone to condemn another person for something that they also practice; “colorism and traditional U.S. racism are inextricably intertwined, yet distinct” (Harris 54). However, this demonstrates how racism has influenced the thoughts of those oppressed by it. It is ironic that although Janie is the person with the lightest skin and has grown up in a white household, she does not have these views. The people with darker skin have these colorist views toward her.
Irene's marriage with Brian Redfield is empty and unfulfilling. Brian resents Irene because she was the reason why he could not be where he wanted to be, which has led to discomfort and arguments throughout their marriage. Brian very much wanted to be in Brazil, but Irene insisted upon him
Although miscegenation is not a new topic, the effects that this phenomenon has on people’s lives has been the source of inspiration for many literary works. “Miscegenation” by Natasha Trethewey is an autobiographical poem that expresses the difficulty that mixed-race people face in accepting their identity in a society that discriminates people who are different. That is, this poem expresses how racial discrimination can affect the identity of those people who do not identify as white or black. Besides, in this poem, Trethewey narrates her origin, as well as how her parents were victims of a society that did not accept their relationship. Therefore, the speaker starts by saying “In 1965 my parents broke two laws of Mississippi” (Trethewey 1); those two laws that broke the Trethewey’s parents were that they were married and had a daughter.
Both Clare and Irene are black: Clare looks the part while Irene looks like she’s a mix of white ethnicities rather than black. Irene’s ability to pass is the way she looks like other races and uses this to allow her to get to the top
What is ironic is that Clare’s husband is joking around about how she’s gotten darker and calling her a slur as a nickname, not knowing that she’s actually black, and that he is telling this joke to three black women. This humor though, only increases the tension in the novel. Both novels utilize the relationships of the light-skinned
The story takes place at the height of the Civil Rights Movement in America, when desegregation is finally achieved. Flannery O’Connor’s use of setting augments the mood and deepens the context of the story. However, O’Connor’s method is subtle, often relying on connotation and implication to drive her point across. The story achieves its depressing mood mostly through the use of light and darkness in the setting.
I will be taking a postmodern approach to the text and supplementing it with modernism and psychoanalytic theories before stating my final stance that postmodernism may be the most appropriate approach. This approach ensures that different perspectives are present in my analysis and ensures that it is not one-sided. The question that I hope to focus my argument on is “Does the postmodernist approach better emerge the idea of self from racism?” Rottenberg, Catherine. " Passing : Race, Identification, and Desire. " Criticism, vol. 45, no. 4, 2004, pp. 435-452.
As a child, she recognized that her imitation of ‘White” afforded opportunities of mobility, education, acceptance and privilege. Her mother’s appearance as “Black” afforded opportunities of poverty, inferiority, and inequality. So, she fails to mention her mother’s identity and occupation to classroom peers and teacher. Sarah Jane wants cultural assimilation and white privilege.
It feels like Clare is trapped in the white world and doesn’t know how to escape. Not only does she feel isolated but she also has to be careful about protecting her real identity. If she accidently reveals that she is a light-skinned black woman she might loose everything she has. One quote that stood out to
Black women are treated less than because of their ascribed traits, their gender and race, and are often dehumanized and belittled throughout the movie. They are treated like slaves and are seen as easily disposable. There are several moments throughout the film that show the racial, gender, and class inequalities. These moments also show exploitation and opportunity hoarding. The Help also explains historical context of the inequality that occurred during that time period.
Running into Irene made Clare realize she missed her culture, her friends, the lifestyle and sense of belonging. She could never really feel a true sense of belonging in the white community, because after all her whole world was a lie. She spent her life trying to “pass”, in essence wearing a mask of deception. “Passing” was a deception. This deception was a choice.