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Summary Of Passing By Nella Larsen

1764 Words8 Pages

Nella Larsen’s novel Passing is a brilliant portrayal depicting how light skinned African Americans were able to live their lives as white people if they so wished and the fallout sometimes associated with this racial passing. Although passing may seem beneficial to those who can blend into mainstream society, passing has several negative effects on one’s acceptance in the African American community. Such a negative effects can include the view of passing “as an instance of racial self-hatred or disloyalty” (CITE 2). In a sense, the one who passes can be considered a traitor to their natural race in that they have abandoned their in favor of a less stigmatized race. After all, race plays an important role in the formation of one’s identity …show more content…

Longing to ask Clare how one goes about passing for such a long period of time, she is unable to fathom why someone would want to do so, as if there were no reasons whatsoever for passing. To this question, Clare replies that “it’s such a frightfully easy thing to do . . . all that’s needed is a little nerve” (Larsen 25). Despite his inability to pass, Brian even understands the concept of passing better than Irene, similar to how he better understands the racism blacks experience regularly. When Irene talks about African Americans how “disapprove of passing and at the same time condone it”, Brian describes passing as the “instinct of the race to survive and expand” (Larsen 56). Because he cannot pass and therefore faces the typical struggles of a black person, he perceives the necessity for doing so. For him, passing is about surviving and gaining a better lifestyle. Yet still Irene questions the concept of passing and is genuinely surprised that she knows so many people that pass in everyday society, such as Clare and Gertrude, and she does not understand the necessity for them to do so, which is made even more ironic by the fact that Irene too passes on occasion. Although she claims that she has never “gone native in [her] life”, passing for Irene is simply a means of convenience, which is completely unlike why the other two women pass (Larsen

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Summary Of Passing By Nella Larsen

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The Role Of Deception In Nella Larsen's Passing

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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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