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Examples Of Passing In Little White Lie

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The individuals in this world are foolish to intuit hate for each other, for one way or another, we are all connected. The reason for this connectivity is the fault of passing or racial ambiguity. Passing is where an individual from one race is accepted into another based off of their appearance. Examples from: the film titled Little White Lie, a guest speaker named Rebecca Campbell, and the novel by J. California Cooper titled Family, explain this notion of passing and how it caused the world to be so connected. The first set of examples of passing come from Little White Lie. This film is all about the life of a girl named Lacy Schwartz. Lacy was a half white, half black Jew that grew up believing she was completely white, yet her appearance …show more content…

California Cooper had the same reason to want to pass for white. The whole novel took place during the civil war and slavery times and most of the main characters were slaves themselves. Just because they were born with into the life of a slave, they were treated worse than dogs; as if their own lives did not matter. The story was told by Clora, who was a little girl who grew up in the life of a slave and had many children. She tried to save her babies from that life by poisoning them and herself, however her children survived. She lingered around to watch over them; saw all the tragedies in their lives and witnessed their choices of passing, if they even were granted the choice that is. Peach and Sun, two of her children, were able to pass because of their lighter skin and opportunities to leave the plantation. It seemed to be permanent passing how they left and never came back to get the rest of their siblings, however, in the end they did come back to see their sister, Always, after the war. Always was unable to pass, for her skin was too dark. However, she made it so her youngest son, Doak Jr., could pass by switching him with a “white-born” child that was the same age as him. Doak Jr. grew up unknowingly passing for white. He, however, wanted nothing to do with that side of him so he suppressed it and tried to pass permanently. Clora tried to explain throughout the novel how keeping track of her blood was so …show more content…

It could make you feel like you do not belong anywhere or that you lost the identity you were once certain of. These concepts were all demonstrated in the examples from Little White Lie, the class speaker, Rebecca Campbell, and the novel, Family. The moral of this passing for white story is that you cannot hate someone when you do not know them, “cause all these people livin are brothers and sisters and cousins. All these beautiful different colors! We! . . . We the human Family. God said so! FAMILY!” (Cooper

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Passing as white can have significant consequences for individuals who choose to do so. Especially with regards to sacrificing their cultural identity and who they are. For example, “Clare for instance, had passed completely, and so had lost everything that made up here n**** self” (Larson 18). This quote expresses the consequences of passing as white.

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