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Summary Of Passing By Nella Larsen

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Joseph Bernardo Professor Goldfeather English Composition 102 24 April 2024 Rough Draft (Title) It's often hard to be a part of two different communities. For example, you can’t support both the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. Society suggests you should stick to one team. Who says that, where is that rule written? Civilization pushes the idea that you won’t feel part of one group if you’re constantly balancing another one. Often society pushes us to choose a side and it is a cardinal sin to identify with both groups of people. Nella Larsen through her novel Passing reinforces themes surrounding passing in America by her characters Clare and Irene. Clare chooses to pass while Irene chooses to be a part of the black community. This …show more content…

Through Larsen's characters Irene and Clare, she delves deeper into how passing creates tension between the two characters; furthermore, this is backed up by Nikki Khanna and Cathryn Johnson in their literary piece “Passing as Black: Racial Identity Work among Biracial Americans,” who discuss the strides American society has taken to create equal opportunities for all races and get rid of that tension between interracial relationships. Larsen also states that passing is not something biracial people want to do, but it is forced upon them by society and the opportunities they can have by identifying as another race. To back this up, Kathia Woods in her literary piece, “Passing explains why racial issues are just black and white,” furthermore supports the complexity of passing and how society is a major contributor to why people choose to pass. Overall, Nella Larsen's novel reinforces that biracial people often struggle with their racial identity, which can be backed up by Sebright's article, Nella Larsen's idea that passing historically has disturbed relationships in modern society is challenged in Khanna and Johnson's …show more content…

Society pushes this onto people, more specifically non-whites, because they have no other way to thrive in society. Furthermore, the article points out that biracial people that could pass had to pass. To add onto this, the article says, “African Americans have experienced forced integration, which leads to colorism and as a result, this need to pass,”(paragraph 5). Woods’ is saying that societal pressures led people of African American descent to give up that part of their racial identity. Society is saying to them that they have to pick one race to identify as. African Americans respond to this by choosing the option that benefits them the most. Nella Larsen's novel Passing strengthens the theme that biracial people struggle with being limited to just identifying as one race. Nella Larsen's idea that passing overtime has disrupted relationships and created tension, in modern society is not as prevalent as it used to be. Lastly, Larsen proves that passing is a complex action that is not a choice, but forced upon by society through unequal opportunity. Claire is often caught in the middle of choosing if she wants to identify as black or

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