Foreshadowing In Passing

Abigail Crozier

HAMLit

Ms. Flood

May 05, 2023

Passing: The Power of Symbolism

Foreshadowing is used to show future events by dropping warnings and hints. In Nella Larsen’s “Passing,” the author uses foreshadowing for the entirety of the novella. Larsen includes symbols such as the teacup and a cigarette to help present the idea of foreshadowing from Clare’s death. With these symbols, it allows us to have a better understanding of Irene’s character and why she does what she does with these specific symbols. By using powerful symbols such as the broken teacup and cigarette sparks, Nella Larsen presents the reader with a sense of inevitability surrounding Clare Kendry’s tragic end in her novel, Passing.

To continue the theme of symbols foreshadowing

Irene becomes paranoid and angry that Clare may possibly usurp herself into her friends and purloin Brain. Irene, becoming enraged at the thought of this, purposely smashed a family heirloom teacup into the ground. TRANSITION TO QUOTE: This can be represented by, “There was a slight crash. On the floor at her feet lay the shattered cup… The chatter stopped” (Larsen 95-96). This foreshadows Clare’s death later in the novella by describing her death. Like Clare, the teacup is very delicate. Its broken fragments were described as white, also like fair-skinned Clare. As angry as Irene was, she had to take her anger out somehow and that was on the teacup. Similarly, at the party Irene had feelings of anger and

However, she tends to be particularly careful with it. She drops the matches near onto a tray and presses her cigarettes out when she is finished, as well as choosing them carefully. Taking part in an action that does not seem on par with her character is represented when “Irene finished her cigarette and threw it out, watching the tiny spark drop slowly down to the white ground below” (Larsen 115). This is very out of character for Irene, as it contrasts with her orderly self-control. It suggests that she did purposely push Clare out of the window, as this foreshadows that idea of Clare falling out of the window. TRANSITION TO QUOTE “One moment Clare had been there, a vital glowing thing, like a flame of red and gold” (116). As Irene watches the tiny spark falling from the window in the previous quote, she also watches Clare fall out of the window, following the same path. Just like a cigarette, Irene had remembered Clare’s presence as “glowing” and as a “flame of red and gold”. This foreshadows Clare’s fall by describing exactly how a cigarette is when it is lit and how it was as it was