Summary Of Passing By Nella Larsen

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What is “The Cult of True Womanhood?” Based on the information on the internet, during 1820s, there are some prescriptions for “True Womanhood,” which included four principal themes—a woman should be piety, purity, submissiveness and domesticity. Women should live in their private sphere like staying at home and taking care of their children. Knowing this concept, people can understand well the book Passing because some of the content in Passing not only mentions about the domesticity about the womanhood, also it implies that woman does not want to be restrained by this concept—“True Womanhood.” In her book Passing by Nella Larsen, it talks about the passing women that are afraid of exposing their real racial identity in the white …show more content…

With a quick perception of the need for immediate safety, she lifted her hand in the direction of a cab parked directly in front of her” states that even though the women have domesticity to their family, they want to get rid of this “True Womanhood” concept when they realize that they are in dangerous. For instance, in her book Passing, encounter, chapter two, Larsen mentions that “About the lifeless figure a little crowd gathtered. Was the man dead, or only faint? Someone asked her. But Irene didn’t know and didn’t try to discover. She edged her way out of the increasing crowd.” In this case, when a woman realizes that she is in dangerous, she will try to avoid facing the problem although she has the “True of Womanhood.” This woman, Irene, who notices the danger, tries to get away from the situation. Therefore, she rejects to answer and explore whether the man is dead or faint. On the contrary, she lifts her hand and calls a cab to help her get rid of this difficult circumstance even though they have the …show more content…

He helped, almost lifted her in. She sank down on the hot leather seat,” states that sometimes, when women face up with some problems in daily life, they hope someone to help them out. Because Irene realizes that she is in dangerous in the crowd, she hope to have someone to get her out of the situation. Therefore, when the driver lifts her in the cab, driver illustrates as a hope for the woman to get rid of the difficult circumstance. Most importantly, it represents that although a woman have the “True Womanhood,” she sometimes wants to be released from this concept because it restraints the women of how they act in their daily life. As a consequence, the driver expresses that the women want to break through this situation. Most importantly, the hot leather seat represents that she eventually finds a way out of this “True Womanhood”

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