Summary Of Passing By Nella Larsen

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In Nella Larsen’s Passing, a narrow line is towed between pride of the race one has chosen, and desire of the race one has not. The protagonist in this novel, Irene Renfield, grapples between feeling proud of her race and jealousy of the societal and social advantages that passing as white provides, which is represented through her friend Clare Kendry. Irene and Clare are mulatto women living in Harlem during the 1920s. Their mixed race allows them to “pass” as white or be seen as black, Clare has chosen to “pass” while Irene has remained true to her race. This creates an odd dichotomy where Clare reaps the financial benefits and enhanced status that accompanies being white during this time, but also gets to enjoy the same black parties and …show more content…

This is a very pure look into how Irene perceives white women as she has not yet realized it is Clare who she is looking at. Irene finds herself subconsciously admiring this woman because of how she looks, and while it is presented as pure admiration now, this onlooking turns into envy as the novel progresses. Elizabeth Dean, in her article, “The Gaze, the Glance, the Mirror: Queer Desire and Panoptic Discipline in Nella Larsen's Passing”, points out the fact that Irene has a “clear appreciation” for Clare’s fair skin, figure, and lips the first time that they see each other at the Drayton (Dean, 3). Whether this “appreciation” is unique to just Clare is unclear, but in the novel Irene does not ever gawk over the features of any of the black women the way she does over Clare’s appearance, pointing to the fact that it may be the whiteness of Clare that Irene is really infatuated with. Clare seems to bring an aura that overtakes Irene whenever they are in each other’s presence. It seems as if Clare’s mere presence influences Irene’s desire to pass

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