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Summary Of Passing By Nella Larsen

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“Personal Identity v. Racial Identity”
Passing by Nella Larsen is the story of a woman, Clare, who is Black, but is able to “pass” for white. She chooses to dwell in white society, even going as far as marrying a racist white man who does not know her heritage. Clare’s foil is Irene, her childhood best friend. When they reconnect, Clare uses Irene as her way into Black culture and society, even though she chose to leave it behind. Irene resists Clare’s friendship, but eventually caves in to Clare’s “seduction”. This acceptance of Clare poses many problems for Irene. In Passing, Irene exhibits a struggle between her personal relationships and the obligations of her identity as a Black woman when she is faced with potentially outing Clare as …show more content…

Herself. Her race. Race! The thing that bound and suffocated her. Whatever steps she took, or if she took none at all, something would be crushed. A person or the race. Clare, herself, or the race” (Larsen 69). Regardless of her decision, Irene was caught in an undesirable situation. She feels a duty to Clare. At first, she was reluctant to reconnect to her old friend due to the fact that she was “passing” completely as a white woman and had integrated herself into white society. To an extent, Irene is disgusted by Clare’s choice to pass, but after they meet again, Clare is able to charm both Irene and her family. In particular, after a Negro Welfare League Dance, Clare and Irene bonded: “...It marked the beginning of a new factor in Irene Redfield’s life, something that left its trace on all the future years of her existence. It was the beginning of a …show more content…

Clare is attempting to cross into African-American culture. “...it wasn’t that Clare cared all about the race or what was to become of it. She didn’t...No, Clare Kendry cared nothing for the race, She only belonged to it” (Larsen 36). Clare wasn’t an active member of the Black community and she couldn’t while she was passing for white. Why should Clare be able to pass and enjoy so many privileges? Instead, all women of color should be free, unbounded by their skin color and origin. Clare was an outsider peering into Black culture. At the resolution of the novel, Bellew finds out that Clare is Black and explosively confronts her but, “Clare stood at the window, composed...She seemed unaware of any danger or uncaring...It was the smile that maddened Irene...She couldn't have Clare Kendry cast aside by Bellew. She couldn’t have her free” (Larsen 79). Irene did not want Clare to be free to identify with Blackness. She did not want Clare to take away her own heritage, and also her husband. So it is assumed at the end that Irene is the one who pushed Clare out the window to her untimely death. She reconciled her competing identities by choosing race over

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We don't have a definitive answer since the cop at the end of the book calls her death a “Misadventure”. All these things cause the story to change its meaning. “Death by misadventure” could mean Clare died as a black woman and no one is responsible for her death. The ending with “Everything was dark” doesn't let us know if Clare died or if anyone is responsible. Nella Larsen decided to not answer questions after she was accused of plagiarism.

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1920’s society offered a prominent way for blacks that look white to exploit its barrier and pass in society. Visible within Nella Larsen’s Passing, access to the regular world exists only for those who fit the criteria of white skin and white husband. Through internal conflict and characterization, the novella reveals deception slowly devours the deceitful. In Passing, Clare and Irene both deceive people. They both engage in deceit by having the ability to pass when they are not of the proper race to do so.

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I will be taking a postmodern approach to the text and supplementing it with modernism and psychoanalytic theories before stating my final stance that postmodernism may be the most appropriate approach. This approach ensures that different perspectives are present in my analysis and ensures that it is not one-sided. The question that I hope to focus my argument on is “Does the postmodernist approach better emerge the idea of self from racism?” Rottenberg, Catherine. " Passing : Race, Identification, and Desire. " Criticism, vol. 45, no. 4, 2004, pp. 435-452.

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Nella Larson’s novel Passing, tells the story of two African American women Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry who embark on a journey to “reconnect” with one another. Although, similar in appearance, these two women were very different in the way they determined race. For women like Irene and Clare who were physically able to “pass” as white women, despite having African American heritage the typical connotation that race was distinguished by the color of one’s skin did not apply to them. As a result, many women like Irene and Clare would cross the racial lines. The character Clare Kendry was the perfect example of “passing.”

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Understanding one another through good, and bad, but allowing the other to get hurt causes greater problems. This quotation relates to the novel Passing because it shows the friendship between two childhood friends who rekindle their friendship as grown adults. The novel Passing, written by Nella Larsen talks about two African American woman with different experiences. The relationship between the two African American woman who share two different lifestyles, but similar in different ways. Both characters have many similarities and differences.

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