Nella Larsen Essay

Throughout her novel Passing, Nella Larsen explores the limits of a monochromatic world and the separation of black and white. Larsen reveals what it means to be black, what it means to be white, and ultimately the struggles one faces should they try to be both. Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry, two African-American women in post-World-War-I-America, find themselves on opposite ends of the spectrum despite having started from the same place: the ‘black’ streets of south side Chicago. Clare, passing

Passing by Nella Larsen revolves around two light-skinned African American women who deal with the social duality of their skin tones. Passing is defined as when a mixed or light-skinned black person poses as a white person. Larsen deals primarily with the issue of colorism which is a form of discrimination by which individuals with lighter skin tones are treated better than individuals with darker skin. The discussion of passing can be noted in the two main characters, Irene and Clare. Irene Redfield

Redfield, an upper-middle class black woman, and Clare Pendry, a wealthy and beautiful biracial woman who has spent many years passing, and yearns to return to her cultural roots. The theme of Passing is personal challenges cause by racism in America. Larsen wrote this book at a time when racial discrimination was still strongly in effect, and the segregation of African-Americans was prominent in United States. Passing goes deeper to look at how members of oppressed races view themselves. As an African-American

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

I really enjoyed “Quicksand” by Nella Larsen, it is a story about biracial woman, Helga Crane, whose mother is Danish and father is black man. Both of them are gone or dead, so she kind of have been passed around her whole life. As an adult she is looking for fulfillment and a place where she feels like she fits in. The title “Quicksand” gave me an idea about how the story works, Helga repeatedly decides to go somewhere to move on with her life and hopefully be happy, but she would eventually get

Nella Larsen’s novella Passing, set in Harlem, New York City in the 1920s, tells the story of the reunion of two childhood friends, Clare Kendry and Irene Redfield, and the resulting exploration of race and finding of one’s identity. The novel is titled for the central theme of racial “passing,” enacted by Clare Kendry, who passes as white with her husband, John Bellew, serving as the catalyst to the tragic events that propel the plot. Passing is defined as “the ability of a person to be regarded

Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel, Passing, is the story of two African American women, Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry, living in New York in the 1920’s. However, the two women are African American by ancestry rather than outward appearance because both possess light enough skin to be able to pass for white. African Americans passing as white was a common occurrence in post-Civil War America. Passing concerns itself with themes of identity, race, belonging, and oppression, yet Larsen muddles the conventional

In Nella Larsen’s book published in 1929, she examines how different people like to convey themselves to their society in different ways. She introduces us to the two main characters, Irene and Clare. They have known each other since childhood, and get to reconnect when they meet as they became older. Each character has her own claim of identity. In Larsen’s classic, the reader observes the concept of passing, meaning the ability to live your life as something you are not fully, but can pass to be

argue about how this poem quoted at the very beginning of this novel implies the how the author express her sympathy and feeling towards their race and how she reveals the female’s inequality in the marriage. At the very beginning of book Passing, Nella Larsen quotes a poem from Countee Cullen to start her story. The poem is very short, which has only four lines. However, this short poem reveals the motif of this novel and the purpose of this writing—what is Africa to me? This question is not only an

In Passing by Nella Larsen, Irene’s encounters are traced from the perspective of a third person narrator. Third person limited narration is positioned to provide the readers with an insight into the thoughts and emotions of characters. In the novel, it stated “, An attractive-looking woman, was Irene’s opinion, with those dark, almost black, eyes and that wide mouth like a scarlet flower against the ivory of her skin” (14). With vivid imagery, the readers are given the perspective of Irene through