Toi Derricotte's Passing Analysis

It is easy to assume that rejecting one’s innate identity can damage them and the relationships they hold because it is built on false hope; yet works of literature such as the novel, The Black Notebooks by Toi Derricotte and the short story “Passing” by Langston Hughes refute such beliefs. Derricotte’s memoir is able to blend the fiction of passing narratives with her own experiences to depict a life that though is often thrown into confusion due to her inability to fit racial roles is able to advance in a society that withholds its privileges due to skin color. “Passing”, meanwhile gives reasons that make sense out of denying what many would deem important to your identity “Passing”, meanwhile gives reasons that make sense out of denying

While identity may be under our complete control, the violence of abstraction strips agency from those who willfully deny their identity because it does not acknowledge that the person making the conscious decision may recognize a larger goal that justifies their sacrifice. Toi Derricotte’s past involvements with passing are much more frustrating and forceful because she often fights against society’s attempts to box her in as what her physical appearance dictated she was. Derricotte herself recognizes such passiveness and the advantages that came with letting others view her as white—which is best seen when she and her husband are looking for houses, “Should I let her think I’m white and go without Bruce to see it? When I go with Bruce we are shown entirely different neighborhoods, all black or integrated.” (Derricotte 32). Derricotte hates having to consent to a society that seems to abhor her chosen identity—but she cannot ignore the benefits. Such advantages for Derricotte are not economic, but status, as she is constantly denied access to equal housing. This line of thinking is supported in the following line “… in the case of the passer, one could have economic or occupational status, and still have an incentive to pass for the

Jack, the author of the letter describes all of the advantages that have come in adopting a white identity—while spending little time mourning the losses of a familial connection in having to deny his heritage. Such apathy toward the damages of passing are shown in the following statement he writes in his letter, “Funny thing, though, Ma, how some white people certainly don’t like colored people, do they? (If they did, then I wouldn’t have to be passing to keep my good job.)” (Hughes 52). Through this statement Jack shows that the abstraction of his identity is not totally harmful as he is able to reap so many benefits. Such a narrative is supported in the following statement: “… ‘white’ and blacks as ‘others.’ ‘To enter the white race,’ Ignatiev reminds us, ‘was a strategy to secure an advantage in a competitive society,’ and whiteness was, ultimately, the ‘result of choices made.’”(Gualtieri 31). This is supported in his anecdote on growing up as a child with ambiguous features: “You remember what a hard time I used to have in school trying to convince the teachers I was really colored. Sometimes, even after they met you, my mother, they wouldn’t believe it.” (Hughes 51). Here, Jack reveals often society would coopt a certain view without allowing a chance to choose how he be seen.