The novel Passing of Nella Larsen held the historical and legal implications which can be seen through the judicial case of Homer Plessy who had one-eighth black and seven- eighths white. Plessy was forcibly jailed for sitting in the whites- only section on the railroad car in Louisiana. In 1896, at the Supreme Court, he argued that his black ancestry was insignificant and he was a white person by all definitions. The Supreme Court said that forcing Plessy to exclude from the whites section was against the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments about equal protection. However, Judge John Howard Ferguson affirmed that treating all people equally did not paralleled with eliminating social distinction based on colors.
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.
Irene has always been passing as a white, but now her true identity is slipping out of her reach. Irene’s self doubt comes from passing as a white person and being accepted in the white society. One example of Irene’s indecision about passing appears when she is talking to Clare, “She said ‘It’s funny about passing.
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.
In the novel, Passing by Nella Larsen, the author explores the theme of the racial passing taking place in the United States during the 1920s. The story takes place in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City in the 1920s, the novel focuses on the reunion of two childhood friends of mixed-race descent. Irene Redfield’s struggle is to keep her charmed existence away from Clare Kendry. In an analysis of this text, the reader understands how the author portrays the crossing the racial boundaries between blacks and whites bring advantages and tragedy.
Around 1920s, passing was a big deal because many people that had a chance to not be recognized as a black person would love to pass for another race. Nella Larsen's novel, Passing, is about two women who reunite from many years and one character, Irene, doesn't want to accept the other character, Clare, back into her life. They both are fair skin woman who can pass and Clare does exactly that. The purpose of the novel is to showcase the racial aspect of passing but after analyzing the book, I realize that not only is race being passed in the book but sexuality is also being passed in the book. "Since the term "passing" carries the connotation of being accepted for something one is not, the title of the novel serves as a metaphor for a wide
From the moment Irene Redfield hesitates to open a letter from her childhood friend to Clare Kendry’s untimely death, Nella Larsen, in her novel Passing, conveys the complex issues with the act of racial passing. When Irene encounters Clare for the first time in twelve years, she learns of her choice to pass as white and marry Jack Bellew, an outspoken racist unaware of her actual identity. As Clare reconnects with Irene, she attempts to immerse herself in black culture while visiting America until Jack finds out her true race, resulting in a confrontation where she dies in a fall. As she learns of Clare’s life while passing, Irene seeks to make sense of her views of the act and the nuances of the decision. To interrogate the notion of passing
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.”
It is often said that a new definition of a woman arose in the 1920s. But is that true? While most women experienced many newfound freedoms in the 1920s, black women could not explore these freedoms as easily as white women. In the novel Passing by Nella Larsen, Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry grew up in Chicago together and are now both two wives and mothers in New York City during the 1920s, but there is a big difference between them. The novel’s title refers to light-skinned black women masquerading as white women for social benefits.
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.
Racism was always a big issue and still occurs today. The story “Passing” took place in the 1920’s during the Harlem Renaissance and it spoke about the term “Passing” which indicates that African American’s who looked lighted skin can go to public places without being discriminated. In “Passing” Nella Larsen demonstrates how racism causes jealousy, resentment, and dishonesty in relationships. The idea is conveyed through inner conflict, the conflict between the main characters and how the Harlem Renaissance period inflicts tension in relationships.
Passing, a novel by Nella Larsen, addresses the issue of race by telling the story of two African American women - Clare Kendry and Irene Redfield - who represent different aspects of passing1. In the novel, passing refers to the process of crossing the color line, where a light skinned person who belongs to the black racial community enjoys white privilege2. However, people who pass struggle with double consciousness as they long to honor their race without necessarily being associated with it3. The novel is highly invested in ambiguity to show the fluidity and complexity of race, and how it paves the way for passing4. Passing illustrates the struggle African Americans face with their unchosen race and their attempt to control their identity
Nella Larsen’s Passing is a novella about the past experiences of African American women ‘passing’ as whites for equal opportunities. Larsen presents the day to day issues African American women face during their ‘passing’ journey through her characters of Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry. During the reading process, we progressively realize ‘passing’ in Harlem, New York during the 1920’s becomes difficult for both of these women physically and mentally as different kinds of challenges approach ahead. Although Larsen decides the novella to be told in a third person narrative, different thoughts and messages of Irene and Clare communicate broken ideas for the reader, causing the interpretation of the novella to vary from different perspectives.
Racial passing is the transition of a member of the African American into the white community due to their outward appearance or biracial features. According to Robert Fike Jr's "The Passing of Passing: A Peculiarly American Racial Tradition Approaches Irrelevance" the difficult situation of people living double lives trying to pass as whites for a permanent or temporary convenience during a time when it was "dangerous to be black, and especially dangerous to be black in a white neighborhood, or white establishment" inspired a number of major authors to write on the subject. Nella Larson's 1929 novel Passing focuses on the amiguousity of identity, and the process in which African Americans "passed" into the Caucasian race to avoid the stigma associated with their African Ancestry. This dilemma is shown through the conflict between the two main characters in the novel, Clare Kenry and Irene Redfeild. Irene Redfield is a sensitive, level headed African
Female African American writers tend to focus more on the experience of black women (which we will consider for this novel). Black women are often introduced as the minority in the race, especially seen in writings during the 1970’s. Most of these writings have female characters who have domestic duties, which can reveal the passing of traditions and cultures from one generation to the next and the role of a woman in an inconvenienced household. They also deal with the image and perception of the Black woman, whether through looks, skin color, or her voice. The woman’s narrative is often formed gradually, often times alongside a woman who has already discovered herself, but we must consider that “it may take the form of exploring one’s own abilities, needs, and desires” (Tyson, 391).
