Analysis Of Passing By Nella Larsen

Clare Kendry in Larsen’s Passing, is a very complex character. She is an African American woman, who is “passing” as a white Caucasian. It all started when her Dad died when she was little, and was taken to her white aunts. Her aunts treated her like she was the help, so this made her want to be wealthy when she is older. Irene is her childhood friend, who saw Clare go through her tough times. They grew apart for a while, but met up in Chicago a couple of years ago. Clare has made herself an outsider through her actions. She is an outsider because she tries to pass as a Caucasian, uses her friends for her own benefit, and secretly wants to get back to her cultural roots.

     In Nella Larsen’s Passing, Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry show us a great deal about race and sexuality in the 1920s. Both are extremely light-skinned women of African-American descent. However similar they appear to be, their views on race, a very controversial issue at the time, differ significantly. Clare chooses to use her physical appearance as an advantage in America’s racist and sexist society, leaving behind everything that connects her to her African-American identity. She presents herself as an object of sexual desire, flaunting herself to gain attention. Irene is practically the opposite, deciding that she wants to remain with the label of being black. She is subtle with her

Moving from a childlike bliss to an awakening of the world's prejudice, the author makes the words take on flesh. The story is made alive as she breathes life into a time that is unpleasant yet not void of hope. "The hush-hush magic time of frills and gifts and congratulations" disappeared when they were told the cold hard `truth' of their fate that some white man had already decided for them.

The main plot of “Passing” focuses on two light-skinned black women, Irene Redfield and her old time friend Clare Kendry. Both women can “pass” as white women. Irene who is married to a successful African-American doctor, passes only when it is

Passing tells a story about Clare Kendry, a light skinned mulato woman who lived with her white aunts and passed as white. Clare then married a to a rich white man named Jack Bellew and never told him about her African ancestry. This story is told from Irene Redfield’s first point of view. Irene Redfield was a long friend of Clare who also was a light skinned mulatto. In contrast of Clare, Irene lived as a proud African American woman who married to a successful black man named Brian and lived on Harlem.

Nella Larsen was an American writer of the Harlem Renaissance. One of her novels, Passing, took place New York society during the 1920s. The story surrounds the reunion of two women, Clare Kendry and Irene Redfield and their struggles they face because of ‘passing’. Through Passing, Nella Larsen demonstrates the challenges that the gender constructs during the time as women are powerless against race and men.

Nella Larsen’s Passing uses the two main characters to explore how the idea of racial identity is not a discussion that is black and white, but rather one that is grey. The story is utilized to demonstrate how some individuals of black complexion fell trap to societal standards, causing them to abandon their own race in search of better life. But, in all actuality, the text argues that the pursual of another identity ultimately causes an individual to lose their own self identification.

Through racist views Janie and her community were cast apart and alienated from society. They banded together as a united force, although strong, they were seen as less than equals to their white counterparts. Throughout the novel we see many examples of racism and it’s cruel remarks, however the most prevalent is found in Janie’s conversations with Mrs Turner. Through these conversations Mrs Turner informs the reader of her racist passions and thoughts of both black and white races. (Hurston, chp 16). In these remarks and racial slurs the reader is able to correlate the ideals of Mrs. Turner to the ones found in today’s society. We as a country are unfortunately built upon racism, and it is due to those beliefs of inferiority belonging to Mrs. Turner and others that our country is still so divided. However, with great love, we as Americans can fight for what’s right and take a stand like Janie did.

Some skeptics such as Audre Lorde: may, argue that the focus of Larsen’s novella focused primarily on the juxtaposition of race and sexual identity of Black feminism in the early twentieth century. However, Larsen makes use of unstable identities that can been seen through the passage via Brian Redfield and John Bellew. The husbands’ envelope the extent of male privilege and contrarily shows their means of working against it. By exploring these men, it offers a more critical view to understanding Clare and Irene

Although Irene feels that there is "nothing sacrificial in Clare's idea of life, no allegiance beyond her own immediate desire," it is apparent that Clare's desire to return to her African American race is honest, even if the motives seem rather one-sided (Larsen 144). Irene considers Clare to be "selfish, cold and hard" (Larsen 144). Irene also feels that Clare does not have "even in the slightest artistic or sociological interest in the race that some members of other races displayed…[She] cared nothing of the race, she only belonged to it" (Larsen 182). This may be true, but it does not diminish Clare's own pain at having to deny her African American heritage, and her desire to return to it. Irene represents a portion of society who feel that people who pass must have a morally acceptable reason to return to their African American roots such as a desire to rebel against a white society that has forced them into the role of a white person. Just because Clare feels "no permanent allegiance to either the black or white worlds or any of the classic anguish of the tragic mulatto" does not mean that she is not a tragic mulatto (Washington 48). In her own way, "Clare Kendry belongs with that group of tragic mulattos…emerg[ing] as an individual, not as a stereotype" (Davis 98). Because she wants to return to her own race on her own terms illustrates her individuality in the face of the

Popular media allow for the general public to be able to properly digest the matters of racial prejudice that are prevalent in our society. There are various ways that racial prejudices are exposed through actions and the structures in society that stems from the perceptions that race is this biological hierarchical supremacy. Additionally, these race classifications that are made by those in power has structured society in a way that puts some in advantage and many at a disadvantage that has continued into modern society. These are disadvantages are revealed through such things as microagressions and socioeconomic structures that favored and continues to favor the “dominant” classes. These matters can be best expressed through personal experiences relating to experienced prejudice, such as Lorraine Hansberry conveying artistically her experience with racial housing issues in Chicago. In her play, The Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry reveals through the Younger family, such issues as community acceptance, lost dreams, and racial discrimination on an economic level. Bruce Norris’s play, Clybourne Park, considers these issues as well as he expands on Hansberry’s world in his personal adaptation of The Raisin in the Sun’s primary plot point. Through experiences shared in the Younger’s future home, Norris explores privilege, systematic racism, white flight, community, and gentrification. Through reference and analysis of Raisin in the Sun and then of Clybourne Park, followed by

In Passing, Clare and Irene two light-skinned African American woman, try to pass for white in a segregated society. Irene infrequently passes while Clare who is biracial, lives a boastful life by identifying herself as a white woman (so it seems). Irene on the other hand strives to

Passing” by Nella Larsen is a great piece of art, that is mostly concentrated on the act of passing as a member of other race in order to assimilate with them and cover their own race. I have to be honest through reading the book I developed love hate relationship because how this book was structured. It is filled with really charismatic personalities such as Claire Kendry or Irene Redfield but at the same time I was really frustrated how they behave themselves regarding their race. For someone who never had any conflicts regarding race it was really hard for to rationalize Clare’s or Irene’s actions that involved covering their own identity to benefit from it either socially or financially. Book still lacks clarity in most of the cases that happen in story, for example ending where Clare dies but it might be also seen as way for reader to think and guess who might be the murderer. Even though this story takes place in the early 20th century when the African American society was still harshly treated by white society, I think we can still see a lot of racial conflicts that happen nowadays among all races that live in big cities such as New York or Paris and etc. Also, depiction of how race might be sign of belonging to specific class was interesting topic. Most importantly what frustrates me most in the story is how racial difference is troubling or forcing characters act in specific ways. By that I mean how Clare went extra mile and even married a white bigot John Bellew

According to the Introduction of Passing Penguin Edition the term passing can be defined as “the movement of a person who is legally or socially designated black into a white racial category or white social identity” (viii). In the novel Passing by Nella Larsen, readers can see passing not only as a racial activity but also as one related to sexuality. The main character Irene Redfield is passing as straight woman that ends up killing Clare Kendry, the woman she seems to be in love with. On the surface, Irene’s motivation to kill Clare is the possible affair between Clare and Bryan but in fact it is more than that. Irene’s unconscious knows that the only way to keep her lesbianism repressed is by maintaining a

Some of the story’s meaning and values involves around race, friendship and the abandonment began to emerge as the plot thickens, and more messages became hidden and remain unrecognized in the story. It’s a controversial story, which conveys an important clue for what race is and if by any means really matters in the scheme of life. She also manipulate the story’s lingual authority to describe those two women’s races interchangeable bringing about the confusion of the readers, and utilized the character’s activities and dialogue during the friend’s gatherings to prove the equality theme between races. Toni Morrison utilized the awkwardness of the two women’s gatherings combined together with the words spoken by the ladies to portray the perplexity of race throughout the