Research Paper

Birju Thakkar

English 102

Dr. Stephanie Horton

12/13/18

This research paper will be based on Nella Larsen’s novel Passing. The novel is set in

New York during the Harlem Renaissance period in the 1920s. In Larsen’s Passing, issues of

identity are emphasized with the whole story being based on the concept of race and racial

differentiation. Many writers in the period began including the aspects of passing in their writing

as a way of imaginatively exploring the inconsistencies and complexities of the situation in the

United States. Just like in Larsen’s work, they based their writings on the black community and

the “white enough” would be portrayed as passing to the white race. Example of other literary

works with the topic of passing embedded is The House behind the Cedars by Charles W.

Chesnutt. The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. Larsen’s work is viewed as to have

perpetrated the writings on passing which became a long-standing tradition for writers of the

time. The novel by Larsen is celebrated for its description of living of the story on passing which

reflects the traditions that were there before it was written. In this paper, the main focus will be

an analysis of the main differences in gender and race norms in which societal defined norms

lead to the development of specific modality of behavior.

Analysis

Analysis of Larsen’s work is aimed at determining whether the use of the element of

passing is to reinforce the held norms of the races or it is a strategy for breaking the idea of

holding one’s race. The novel offers an enhancing environment for the study of race in regard to

the use of two protagonists who can pass to white race. The novel, Clare Kendry and Irene

Redfield are the main characters, and only Clare manages to pass over into the white race. The

comparison between Clare and Irene reveal the complexities in the fascinating story developing

the novel. This fully grown in the way Larsen uses Irene in representing the subject of

understanding and internalization of the socially constructed norms of race and in context of

Clare, she defines the misappropriation and misidentification possibilities across racial terms.

The first scene occurs when Irene and Clare meet for the first time in twelve years since

they separated. In this instance, Irene had passed over to the white-only space from her life in

Drayton. And on this specific day, the look she receives from Clare makes her wonder whether

this other woman knows that she is a Negress. This fear of identification makes her grow an

inner fear in that the other woman might realize she is Negro. She, therefore, questions her

successful pass to white attempt. She is consequently surprised that someone may have caught

her in her attempt to cross over to write. The other woman’s eyes blackness does not, however,

make her question whether she is black in a white body. Where Clare approaches her and insists

that she recognizes her, she questions herself, “What white girls had she known well enough to

have been familiarly addressed as ’Rene by them?’’ (151). This sense of questioning seems to

suggest that passing in the race is an assumption of whiteness.

Clare invites Irene to a tea party, where Irene first meets Jack Bellew, Clare’s racist

husband. Bellew is loud in claiming that he knows a Ni**** when he sees one, which means that

he does not entertain the idea that any of the women he is sitting with might be black. He calls

the N*****, “the black scrimy devils” (172). In here, identity is constructed on skin color. The

events during the tea party also reveal different and peculiar aspects of gender and gender roles

as constructed by society. The married between Irene and Brian reveals the roles of men and

women. She reveals to Clare that, although she had all the things that she ever wanted, and she

did not need to pass as white, she had struggles within her marriage and in controlling her sons.

In her mind, after meeting Clare after twelve years, she says, “To home, to the boys, to Brian.

Brian, who in the morning would be waiting for her in the great clamorous station. She hoped

that he had been comfortable and not too lonely without her and the boys,” (Larsen, 4) showing

her struggle. In the text and events leading to her first meeting with Clare reveal that she has

found a place where she was relishing staying at and find peace and comfort, home. The self-

speaking quote reveals the place where the society has built for women, and that is home where

women need to be at.

Larsen portrays Irene as desiring civilized and cultured lifestyle. ‘‘Irene didn’t like

changes, particularly changes that affected the smooth routine of her household’’ (Larsen, 188).

In this quote, Brian dreams of leaving the United States for Brazil which would disrupt Irene’s

pleasant way of life and Irene thinks that Brazil is not a civilized place. Larsen brings out the

complicated mind and thoughts of Irene. For instance, she brings out the perspective of women

thought about their husbands in saying, “That craving for someplace strange and different, which

at the beginning of her marriage she had had to make such strenuous efforts to repress, and

which yet faintly alarmed her, though it now sprang up at gradually lessening intervals” (Larsen,

4). Despite having made Brian stay in the states, Larsen develops the idea of gendered power.

Although Irene was weaker compared to Brian in many aspects, she manages to persuade him to

stay in New York and counter the idea that, “She was, to him, only the mother of his sons”

(Larsen, 1). The events also reveal other gender aspects. This is, women perceive that

childbearing and family can mend the brokenness in the family. The power of women, however,

diminishes when the woman has to depend on the man for her needs. Irene was unable to change

anything in her family with the only option being to hold on and endure the pain. The society

also requires women to endure suffering. For instance, she was powering even when Brian had

an affair as she had to stay with him showing how power relations between men and women

impact the survival of both parties as constructed by the society.

Clare passes over to white society and decides to do things over in a different way by

striving to free herself from the culture. But her efforts are limited by her marriage to the loud

racist, Bellew. The relationship between Irene and Clare is used to portray the cultural, gendered

power relations where men are considered as gender slaves. Bellew is used to portray the power

of the male gender. Clare, in being afraid of Bellew realizing her black roots is forced to curl

back in a powerless and helpless state. The society requires that men be head of the family and

the woman should adhere to what the man says and bear. For instance, during the tea party,

Bellew uses abusive language towards blacks, but Irene and Clare cannot stand up against him.

Clare is, therefore, unable to change the gender and racial requirements of gender roles, and thus

she has to be subjective towards Bellew.

In spite of her failure to stand up against her husband, Clare does not lose her inherent to

free herself from racial identification. This places her identity in jeopardy, as the realization by

her husband that she is not white would bring harm to her. On the other hand, despite having

passed into white, she does not receive as many privileges of being white, as she had anticipated.

Her emotional and dramatic behavior makes Irene describe her as exhibiting a ‘‘strange capacity

of transforming warmth and passion, sometimes verging almost on theatrical heroics’’ (Larsen,

144). In line with this perspective, Clare is a reflection of the power struggle of women in

society. First, she has already risked in passing to white and marrying out to a racist husband.

This behavior is a reflection of women striving for equality though she remains powerless to her

male counterpart. She is also trying to hide her true black identity to save herself. Bellew’s

reference of Negress would have offended anyone but Clare keeps her calm to save herself and

her marriage. Finally, when Bellew finds out of her identity, she “stood at the window, as

composed as if everyone were not staring at her in curiosity and wonder, as if the whole structure

of her life were not lying in fragments before her. She seemed unaware of any danger or

uncaring. There was even a faint smile on her full, red lips, and in her shining eyes”. This quote

suggests that she had realized that her long desired freedom and for the moment, she became free

from him and had the power over him as everyone in the room stood for her. But reality dawned

to her that this new knowledge of Bellew was the end for her. She was pressed to the window,

and from the pressure, she fell off to her demise. A close look to the fall and demise can be

analyzed as a way of releasing against cultural expectations. The demise, therefore, signifies that

liberation from culture and cultural expectation can only come from death.

Secondary Criticism

The novel by Larsen has faced criticism based on its different themes, styles and different

interpretational perspectives. As already highlighted, the author of the novel leaves the end for

the reader to interpret which opens leeway to different criticism and points of view. One of the

most prominent critiques of the work by Larsen is McDowell Deborah in her work Sexuality in

Nella Larsen’s Quicksand and Passing. MacDowell argues that Larsen departs from more

thrilling themes by focusing on tragic mulatto who was too obvious that the characters would

have turned mulattos from the beginning of the novel. She argues that the focus on Mulatto

makes the reader on a clearer theme of pleasure and the danger of female sexual experience. Her

argument is strong in that the aspects of race and identity can easily interest a reader yet even her

characters are ensnared by sexualized attitudes that have been perpetuated by dominance in a

race or societal expectations. According to McDowell, Larsen uses an exploitative technique in

exploring her themes and developing her work. She perceives that Larsen uses high standing

women in the status of the time of writing to both celebrate their acts and courage as well as

exploit their sexuality. MacDowell points out, while other writers of the time were focused on

racial emancipation and black feminism; Larsen was focused on their sexuality and legacy of

gender slavery. To her, Larsen was trying to build a story on two contradictory impulses on a

single literary work. Larsen was trying to portray the life of black women with sexual desires but

constrained by the effort to establish the black woman as a respectable member of the society.

Larsen carefully brings out aspects such as Ni**** society, religion, education, preferences and

personal behavior. She also demonstrates how Larsen is constrained by her effort to uplift black

to attain a certain level but limited by the psychology and the social expectations that the society

has placed over them. MacDowell perspective is not correct as Larsen effectively proves to be

vigilant of culture and develops her characters from racial bondage to middle class in a

systematic manner.

Another important critic to Nella Larsen’s Passing is Marita Golden. Marita opiates that

there are no tragic mulattos in the novel. According to her, women of color in the novel were

driven by the impulsive desire to model their lives rather than face suffering. In this sense, she

points out that the tragic mulatto is portrayed as a person who is a victim of circumstances where

she has been disempowered and degraded by the society in spite of the connection between the

dominant race and the ancestral race.

Hutchison George who argues that the character portrayed as the tragic mulatto was

predictable develops the other criticism. Hutchison has the idea that the black women who have

been unable to merge the reality of color with self-identity have internalized the ideas of ethnic

differences. He also notes that the issue of identity explored by Larsen is an American racial

ideology that Affects both black and white and which certainly affects the sense of identity for

her characters in the way she places them in a situation of either incorporation or exclusion from

the mainstream society. Despite this predictability, Hutchison argues that Larsen applies a richer

and more compelling argument and portrayal of the mulatto in that she is more in-depth and

applies more superior narrative techniques.

Biographical Sketch

An analysis of Nella Larsen’s biography is often riddled with her literary work. In most

of the analysis, the basis is on her racial, identity and gender constructions. Dean in his article

Passing Through argues that Larsen was struggling with her own identity and person. Dean

points out that there is a relative measure of solitude that enforces itself on everybody. He argues

that Nella Larsen was a lonely as she did not have a family to belong to. Having been born in

1891, her birthplace, Chicago was fast disintegrating. Her father died, and because they were

immigrants, it was difficult living through hence her mother married out to a white man with

whom they had another daughter. Funnily, Larsen did not know her for sixty years. This story

compares to the story in her novel Passing. The demise of her father, who seemingly held the

family together, can be related to the way Clare and Irene are cut from the black community.

Nella had a long duration without meeting her stepsister. This situation resembles the period

Irene and Clare had been separated from each other and came to meet in the most unexpected

scenario. The remarrying of her mother is the basis of the development of her novel. The two

main characters in her novel are also married to white men yet they are black. She does not tell

her that she had a sister, which can be related to the psychological fear that Irene and Clare had

that made them not reveal that they were indeed black. For Larsen, her mother had passed to the

white race and could not reveal her true identity to maintain the privileges that came with being

white or else to self-preserve herself from the wrath of her man.

Dean further describes her as to have identified herself as a black woman but kept her

circles. This is because, in her upbringing, she was bred as the unwanted dark-skinned daughter

whose connection to the mother probably brought remorse. Such character, therefore, informed

her fictional writing on women and light skinned and too dark women, women living between

white and black and without a place they can call home. Clare though yearns to come back to her

former self and rejoin her black society. She cannot get back as there is no one to accept her

again. She is also unwilling to let her privileges that she is now used to as a white to be taken

away from her.

Historical Moment

Passing was written in 1929. Around this time, one of the most prevalent incidences was

the lynching on blacks. At this time, Americans of African decency formulated rules and

regulations that would be used in defining or dictating who could be considered white.

Therefore, blacks who were light-skinned were able to cross over the white race line. It is also

argued that a lot more people who were considered white had black ancestry. At the same time,

light-skinned African Americans were living the “White lie “in order to be able to acquire jobs or

move up the in social status with very few choosing not to pass to white and retain their

attachment to the black race. Therefore, passing became a socially acceptable practice and many

people begun embracing it. It is therefore from this perspective that Larsen develops her novel

and uses Irene and Clare to develop the topic of passing. She effectively shows how people

passed the race line and were able to lead a life of the opposite race, without anyone suspecting

that they were actually black. Just as Clare passes and can find a husband, a doctor indeed shows

that the society had accepted the practice and people had begun living with the idea.

The novel’s central idea is the theme of identity, but it has even more expansive

ideologies. A reader can, therefore, approach it’s reading from different perspectives such as

relationships, marriage, sexuality and gender roles in society and society. Larsen brings out the

different roles of different individuals and their power relations. She challenges the socially

constructed roles of women and men and tries to show the struggle for freedom from those

cultural norms, which ultimately leads to death.

Works Cited

Golden, Marita. Introduction to An Intimidation of Things Distant, by Nella Larsen, 1987.

Dean, Michelle. “Passing through: Nella Larsen made a career of not quite belonging. Lapham

Quarterly.

Hutchison, George. Nella Larsen and the Veil of Race. American Literary History, 1997.

Larsen, Nella. Passing. Modern Library. 2007.

McDowell, Deborah. Sexuality in Nella Larsen’s Quicksand and Passing, Greenwood, FL:

Penkevill, 1988.

Place new order. It's free, fast and safe

Paper type

Deadline

Page count

550 words

Total price: $ 15.00

Our customers say

Jeff Curtis

USA, Student

"I'm fully satisfied with the essay I've just received. When I read it, I felt like it was exactly what I wanted to say, but couldn’t find the necessary words. Thank you!"

Ian McGregor

UK, Student

"I don’t know what I would do without your assistance! With your help, I met my deadline just in time and the work was very professional. I will be back in several days with another assignment!"

Shannon Williams

Canada, Student

"It was the perfect experience! I enjoyed working with my writer, he delivered my work on time and followed all the guidelines about the referencing and contents."