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

what many would deem important to your identity—a man is willing to sacrifice his familial connection to advance in a society that would otherwise reject his desires.

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

reason that accessibility to much in American life equal to that of comparable whites might not exist.” (Conyers and Kennedy 218). Derricotte’s struggle with abstraction is destructive because society often pushes her into roles without her consent. This is clearly seen while Derricotte is shown a house in a “lily-white” neighborhood: “I opened the closets as if I were a thief, as if I was filthying them, that I believe about myself what they believe: that I’m “passing”, that my silence is a crime.” (Derricotte 34). Derricotte abhors the idea that trading her identity for opportunity also means trading in her ability to choose how she sees herself. This is seen especially when she yearns to be accepted in her neighborhood, “I couldn’t get over the feeling that I had to prove myself from what I was sure almost all of them took for granted…yet at the same time I had to absolutely be “myself”, that was the only way I could earn their respect.” (Derricotte 38). Derricotte throughout many of her journal entries expresses a desire to be accepted into the white community, yet does not want to meet their performance of her race either as white or black she just wants to be herself. Such inner conflict is reflected in the theory of double consciousness: “One ever feels his twoness, — an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.”(Ramon 50). Derricotte is often depicting the more disparaging effects of abstraction because she cannot ignore either consciousness wholly as the part that wants to take advantage of her whiteness holds her desires and ease while her blackness represents her heritage and refusal to be brought into an unfair society. Through Derricotte’s refusal to act out society’s set script on race she experiences the violent effects of abstraction as she constantly struggles to deny and reclaim her racial identity.
Another work of literature that depicts the violence of abstraction that occurs through the loss of one’s own advocacy in pursuit of a better life is Langston Hughes’s short story, “Passing”.

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.

This type of abstraction is not as violent a sensation as the description often used: one that illustrates a passing narrative of having one’s identity taken or ripped from them. But as a silent abuse, one that always sets its victims apart from their families—one that does not allow them to fit in anywhere. That causes them to have to constantly straddle the line of race, never being able to fill a role easily in society. This violent abstraction causes Jack to have no qualms with denying his heritage as society has forced him to deny it without his permission for so long. So that when he actively distances himself he does not feel the pain—only the reward. This type of literature qualifies the idea that the violence of abstraction actively rips at its victims—as Jack shows no outward signs of torment, his whole life he has suffered silently so when he finally plays along with societal norms he is instead given a cruel relief from fighting for his true self.
In employing the novel, The Black Notebook, by Toi Derricotte and Langston Hughes’ short story, “Passing”, it is clear that the abstraction that occurs is passively violent in that it takes away one’s ability to choose how one is seen in society. Often though these narratives show that such dependency on passing is not necessarily bad as it gives those passing opportunities otherwise not available. Because these characters are often actively reaching for privileges that would be denied to them in the identity given to them through blood, they do not wholly feel the violence such denial of self should give them.