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What Is The Theme Of Passing By Nella Larsen

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Passing, by Nella Larsen, explores the complexities of race and how it influences relationships between people. The novel illustrates how race is not a fixed and immutable characteristic, but rather a fluid and ever-evolving construct shaped by one's experiences and surroundings. Larsen’s deft analysis is exemplified by the discussion of Claude Jones. While Jones is not a central character seen in the plot, the small embedded narrative around his life is used to provide the reader with a template showing that race is not static but rather something one assimilates into over the course of a person’s life. This is the lens through which the reader can better understand Claire and her attempts at residing in two cultures passing from black to …show more content…

Before Claude became a Jew, he had a mustache. It never looked quite right and “the girls used to laugh at [it] so” (41). Clare says that it “looked like a thin streak of soot” but in such a way that implies Claude himself was the soot. In fact, Clare had to clarify that she was talking about the mustache after saying that. Claude attempted to fit into the black race, but it was surface level and everyone could tell. Just as the mustache seemed odd, Claude also had an odd fit in the African American community. The “thin streak” of a mustache is a metaphor of Claude's barely noticeable standing in the black community (41). Claude eventually found the people that he connected with when he became a Jew. He grew a full face of hair which fits in with Jewish culture and shows that he connects with them. Notably, Claude grew a beard “as well as a mustache” (41). In explicitly mentioning that Claude maintained his mustache, it suggests that he wants to hold on to a part of his past identity and gives reasoning to his self title of “black Jew” (41). However, African American people saw through his self proclaimed image and refused to accept him as black. While race is fluid, the choices we make have consequences. These choices can be liberating, as it was for Claude. But it can also be isolating, a lesson that would define the tension between Clare and the black community she attempted to reconnect

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Confession Of a Nice Negro, or Why I Shaved My Head In Robin Kelly’s article titled confession Of a Nice Negro or why l shaved my head is about a black man whose family had gone ahead to a movie theater and was trying to catch up with them. This man in a rush to the movie theater was mistaken by the cashier for a robber, because of the way he looked. He had a Yankee baseball cup and a scarf over his nose and mouth, which he might have forgotten that a black man’s appearance is essential in public because of the way they are perceived mostly criminals, therefore when they step out in public they should behave or look appropriate. In Kelly’s article he referred to himself as a nice Negro meaning funny and black with a lighter skin complexion.

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Summary Of Passing By Nella Larson

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In Passing by Nella Larson, two biracial women pass as white while one embraces her black identity the other denies her black identity. Race, identity, and belonging is determined by the culture the family choses to identity with. Clare has no other choice but to accept her white culture on the surface but she desires to be reconnected back to her black culture. Clare decision to accept her white culture was for the privileges that came from passing. Biracial children have a difficult time finding a sense of self and where they belong.

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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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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

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