In a world where identity is as malleable as the masks we wear, Nella Larsons' “Passing” serves as a masterclass in the area of literary symbolism, using the seemingly innocuous elements of masks, windows, and teacups to peel back the layers of jealousy that can both drive and destroy us in Larsons “passing” Irene Redfield and Clara Kendry navigate the complexities of racial identities in the 1920s Harlem. While Irene lives openly in the African American community, Clara chooses to pass as white, while hiding her true heritage. The concept of “passing” reflects the era of harsh racial divides, offering economic and social mobility at the cost of personal authenticity and constant fear of discovery. The novel delves into the emotional strife and societal implications of …show more content…
She is often vigilant and cautious, perhaps out of fear that Clare's recklessness could unravel the carefully constructed safety of her own life. Clare's envy of Irene's life is evident in her bold actions and choices, such as her decision to pass for white and her risky visits to Harlem to reconnect with the Black community. These actions symbolize her deep longing for the sense of belonging and identity that she observes in Irene's life. Clare's desire to reconnect with her Black heritage implies a complex relationship with her own identity; she envies the authenticity and community that comes with the identity she has been hiding from. This desire also creates tension, as it threatens to expose not only her deception but also the fragile nature of the social boundaries she navigates. The climax in the story serves as a powerful symbolic representation of the destructive force of jealousy. It is during this pivotal moment that the full extent of the characters' jealousy is laid bare, leading to irreversible consequences that shape the course of their
The Emancipation of the once enslaved African American was the first stepping stone to the America that we know of today. Emancipation did not, however automatically equate to equality, as many will read from the awe-inspiring novel Passing Strange written by the talented Martha Sandweiss. The book gives us, at first glance, a seemingly tall tale of love, deception, and social importance that color played into the lives of all Americans post-emancipation. The ambiguity that King, the protagonist, so elegantly played into his daily life is unraveled, allowing a backstage view of the very paradox that was Charles King’s life.
The term "passing" is shorthand for a racial passing which means people of one race passing for another. Nella Larsen's Passing is the story about two light-skinned women, who both have African blood. Clare Kendry is one of them who chooses and succeeds at "passing" and Irene Redfield is one who doesn't. They drive into each other twelve years later in a restaurant and Clare invites Irene to the tea party. The tea party which appears in the beginning of the story plays an important role throughout of the story because Jack Bellew enters the story at that moment. Jack is the white man who has a strong revulsion to African-Americans. He marries Clare, without knowing her secret ancestry. Jack's statements at the tea party lead the main characters' transformation throughout the story and shape the ending as well.
The award-winning book of poems, Brown Girl Dreaming, by Jacqueline Woodson, is an eye-opening story. Told in first person with memories from the author’s own life, it depicts the differences between South Carolina and New York City in the 1960s as understood by a child. The book begins in Ohio, but soon progresses to South Carolina where the author spends a considerable amount of her childhood. She and her older siblings, Hope and Odella (Dell), spend much of their pupilage with their grandparents and absorb the southern way of life before their mother (and new baby brother) whisk them away to New York, where there were more opportunities for people of color in the ‘60s. The conflict here is really more of an internal one, where Jacqueline struggles with the fact that it’s dangerous to be a part of the change, but she can’t subdue the fact that she wants to. She also wrestles with the issue of where she belongs, “The city is settling around me….(but) my eyes fill up with the missing of everything and everyone I’ve ever known” (Woodson 184). The conflict is never explicitly resolved, but the author makes it clear towards the end
Passing by Nella Larsen was written in 1929 during the height of the Harlem Renaissance movement. The novel focuses on shifting racial boundaries and the pressures of white-dominated society. The term "passing" carries the connotation of being accepted for something one is not. The title of the novel serves as a metaphor for a wide range of deceptive appearances and practices that incorporate sexual, gender, and racial passing. Passing could refer to sexual passing where one disguises their true sexual identity practiced by lesbians and gays in a society. This term can also be related to racial passing which is where a person classified as a member of one racial group (African American) also can be accepted due to appearance as a member of
Published in 1929, Passing by Nella Larsen is a novel that explores the lives of middle class African-Americans in the 1920s. It focuses on two childhood friends Clare and Irene who reconnect later in life to discover that Clare is married to a white man and is ‘passing’ as a white woman, whilst Irene identifies as a black woman and only ‘passes’ when she has too. Race, racism and racial passing are the key themes within Larsen’s text. The reality of racism is also revealed through character John Bellew. A white man with a mind filled with horrible misconceptions, John Bellew is constructed as a discriminatory and racially melancholic man who deems the racially ‘other’ as inferior to that of the white race.
In the novel, Passing, Nella Larsen presents two women, Clare and Irene who originate from the black community; however still yearn for an assured identity for themselves. Clare and Irene are childhood friends who even though being part black, are able to pass as white folk. Irene continues to be part of the black community and is considered a black woman, however this is on a superficial level. When it comes to her advantage, Irene occasionally passes as white. Clare on the other hand passes as a white woman; her lifestyle changed completely as to white standards and in. Although both women are in a dilemma regarding their true racial identity, they both wish to live as both black and white. Throughout the book, both women attempt to achieve an integrated identity, however fail do to so. Their failure in attempting to live a life both as black suggests and supports the idea that a person can only have one race as either black or white, not both.
In 1912, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man was anonymously published by James Weldon Johnson. It is the narrative of a light-skinned man wedged between two racial categories; the offspring of a white father and a black mother, The Ex-Colored man is visibly white but legally classified as black. Wedged between these two racial categories, the man chooses to “pass” to the white society. In Passing: When People Can’t Be Who They Are, Brooke Kroeger describes “passing” as an act when “people effectively present themselves as other than who they understand themselves to be” (Kroeger 7). The Ex-Colored Man’s choice to ultimately “pass” at the end of the novel has been the cause of controversy amongst readers. Many claim his choice to “pass” results from racial self-hatred or rejecting his race. Although this may be true, the main reason for his choice to “pass” is more intense. The narrator’s “passing” is an effort to place himself in a safe living environment, open himself up to greater opportunities and be adventurous and cynical in his success to fool the nation. It is because of his light skin that The Ex-Colored Man confidently knows the world will categorize him as white; thus cowardly disclaiming his black race without actually disclosing his decision.
In the essay “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” Zora Neale Hurston describes her life growing up in Florida and her racial identity as time goes on. Unlike many, she disassociates herself with “the sobbing school of Negrohood” that requires her to incessantly lay claim to past and present injustices and “whose feelings are all hurt by it”. Although she acknowledges times when she feels her racial difference, Hurston portray herself as “tragically colored.” Essentially, with her insistence that she is unhurt by the people treat her differently, Hurston’s narrative implies she is happier moving forward than complaining. Ironically, Hurston is empowered by her race and the double standard it imposes stating, “it is thrilling [that for every action,] I shall get twice as much praise or twice as much blame.”. Moreover, with her insistence that we are all equal under “The Great Stuffer of Bags,” she accepts every double standard and hardship as good. Hurston’s narrative of self empowerment moves and entertains the reader, while still drawing attention unjust treatment Hurston
The main character is completely alienated from the world around him. He is a black man living in a white world, a man who was born in the South but is now living in the North, and his only form of companionship is his dying wife, Laura, whom he is desperate to save. He is unable to work since he has no birth certificate—no official identity. Without a job he is unable to make his mark in the world, and if his wife dies, not only would he lose his lover but also any evidence that he ever existed. As the story progresses he loses his own awareness of his identity—“somehow he had forgotten his own name.” The author emphasizes the main character’s mistreatment in life by white society during a vivid recollection of an event in his childhood when he was chased by a train filled with “white people laughing as he ran screaming,” a hallucination which was triggered by his exploration of the “old scars” on his body. This connection between alienation and oppression highlight Ellison’s central idea.
Identity is a mirror of image constructed by society. Identity is an individual only and true form of self. Individuals, such as mixed race biracial people who do not easily fall into a race category are forced to choose which side of the color line they are willing to exist. The reality of racism for these biracial people become diminished with the term “Passing”. Passing refers to the ability of a member of one social group to be accepted as a member of another, such a different ethnicity, race, gender, social class, and age, typically with the purpose of being accepted. "Passing," is evidnet in Nella Larsen's “Passing” and Carl Van Vetchen “Nigger Heaven”, it alludes to crossing of the color line and performing to race norms. Nella Larsen's Passing, addresses this issue of skin color and performing through the character of Clare Kendry, whom was an atrractive mulatto who manages to escape poverty by passing for being a white women. She marries a wealthy white man who also believes that she is white as well. Her journey across the color line is completely sucessful until her association with people of color and her tragic end. Simiarily, Carl Van Vetchen's Nigger Heaven, reiterates the same issue of passing and performing with the charactger Dick Sill, who understand as a mixed biracial man, the advantages of passing in a racist american society.Both Clare Kendry and Dick Sill are proponent of passing, however with such choice both seem conflicted with the dilema of living detached from their racial or cultural identity.
...s appealing it is not without consequence. Clare, and those who choose to pass, are not free to embrace their whole identity and will always remain a threat to those they come in contact. Clare exemplified the archetypal character of the tragic mulatto, as she bought tragedy to her own life and all those she came in contact. Clare’s presence forced Irene to contend with feelings of internalized racism, and thus feelings of inferiority. Through diction, tone, and imagery Larsen makes it luminous to readers that "passing" may seem glamorous, however, the sacrifice one makes to do so is not without consequences for themselves and those they care about. Larsen does not allow her readers to perch on the belief that once a member of the dominate group ones life is not without pain and suffering. Every action, even those that seem to make life easier, have consequences.
Examination into the true heart of experience and meaning, Charles Johnson’s Middle Passage looks at the structures of identity and the total transformation of the self. The novel talks about the hidden assumptions of human and literary identity and brings to view the real problems of these assumptions through different ideas of allusion and appropriation. As the novel tells Rutherford Calhoun’s transformation of un-awareness allows him to cross “the sea of suffering” (209) making him forget who he really is. The novel brings forth the roots of human “being” and the true complications and troubles of African American experiences. Stuck between posed questions of identity, the abstract body is able to provide important insight into the methods and meanings in Middle Passage.
The early 1900s was a very challenging time for Negroes especially young women who developed issues in regards to their identities. Their concerns stemmed from their skin colors. Either they were fair skinned due mixed heritage or just dark skinned. Young African American women experienced issues with racial identity which caused them to be in a constant struggle that prohibits them from loving themselves and the skin they are in. The purpose of this paper is to examine those issues in the context of selected creative literature. I will be discussing the various aspects of them and to aid in my analysis, I will be utilizing the works of Nella Larsen from The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, Jessie Bennett Redmond Fauset, and Wallace Brown.
Hence is the subject matter of Nella Larsen’s “Passing”. In the short yet entirely poignant novel, protagonist Irene Redfield finds herself encircled in the ring of deceit and idealistic views belonging to Clare Kendry. Clare is a woman who has decided to “pass” as a means of achieving a life more luxurious than that of a black woman in her society. This choice is risky alone, paired with superficial reasoning, makes for a potentially volatile situation if not handled with delicate precaution and constant awareness. Clare is, however, a frivolous and self destructive character who we see throughout the novel as being someone who does not give a second thought towards the trace she leaves on the world so much as she gets what she wants. In a conversation about having children, Clare speaks about how she “nearly died of terror the whole nine months before [her daughter,] Margery was born for fear that she might be dark. Thank goodness, she turned out alright” (Larsen 27). In this scene, Irene, Clare and Gertrude, a childhood friend of theirs, are talking about the fact that there is no predicting how dark or light a black child’s skin may be upon birth; meaning that the risk of her secret being revealed was made dangerously precarious as a result of her recklessness. The danger she has put herself in but has willingly chosen to