Passing
Passing is a novel that was written by Nella Larsen, who is an American author, and it was published in 1929. The set of the book is about New York City, majoring on the Harlem neighborhood in the 1920s. The main story that depicted all along is about two childhood friend who reunites, and each one of them is fascinated about the other’s life, they are Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry. Passing in the novel refers to the two black childhood friends who are black being able (to give as) to be seen as white people without being noticed or caught. Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry use their light-skinned complexion in their advantage to pass as white women. Clare Kendry tries to give as a white woman because of her husband, John Bellow, who has a biased opinion towards black people. The passing of Clare Kendry’s as a white woman is generally what the novel is entirely about because through her actions, and there is the birth of all other tragic occurrences that proceed throughout.
The novel talks mostly about the lives of most balk people in the 1920s, and it majors mainly on the race aspect. During that period, this kind of behavior was widespread, and it was referred to as racial passing. The author Nella Larsen herself being born from a mixed family, which was one black, and one white parent can depict the theme very well all along the novel. She had first-hand experiences having been born in that kind of family during that time because she was able to witness people trying to pass as white. She explains thoroughly the reasons to why people wanted to give as white and more also on gender and sexuality, the weight they had on an individual mostly on a particular race.
The reader realizes the “passing” title that Nella Larsen used in her novel does not have a definite meaning until the reader is hit with the Harlem set of the 1920s. The two childhood friends, Irene and Clare, are met with severe consequences from their actions of passing as white, which are both emotional and superficial. The two friends have kept their black ethnicity as a secret all along; thanks to their light-skinned complexion, Clare’s husband John does not even know that she is black; they have a child together. Irene, on the other side, uses her light skin on her advantage as she can do things, and go to place a black woman is not entitled. She can go and have a meal at Drayton’s hotel, but there she maintains cautiousness all through. The two friends only differ on the entitlement of their background, as Irene sees herself as a black woman who only takes advantage of the nature of her complexion to get “white privileges.” It is a term used to refer to all the entitlement that a white person has that other people of different color doesn’t have, in this case, black people. The differences come in when Clara, who lives her life like a white person, denies her ethnicity; she always denies being black to be able to enjoy the “white privileges.” This act angers Irene a lot, and it stands in the way of their friendship as she doesn’t like the idea of denying her background.
Irene lives with Brian, who is her husband is a successful physician with their sons in a house that is very comfortable in Harlem; Clare envy’s her life. In her neighborhood, she has been able to gain respect through arranging charity ball that she organizes in the wealthy parts of it; the event has given her a purpose in life. Things start to take another direction when Irene meets and reunites with Clare, a childhood friend who has been out of touch with for a while. Clare, who is described as a beautiful light-skinned girl, narrates to Irene how after the death of her father, she left the old adolescent ways she had in the neighborhood and that she started passing as a white girl. She tells Claire how she has hidden her background and right ethnicity for a very long time, even to her husband, who is biased to the black community and very racist. Clare’s behavior is very astonishing, and Irene sees it as very dangerous. She doesn’t like it even though her long lost friend continues to insert herself in her life, making her get into panicing about what would happen if the actions of her friend put them into trouble. She is worried about the consequences might come their way; this panicking is referred to as tragic mullato. The panic comes to haunt her more after Clare comes into the realization of her woke and vibrant community that she left behind, making her want to go back to being her old self which has become a threat to herself and her friend’s cautiously hidden background, that could cost them a lot.
Irene Redefied in the passing novel is the main character, she does not portray herself as a white woman, but only uses her skin tone to pass a white woman only when it is on her advantage or for convenience. She does not need to pretend to be a white woman as she is also married to a black person (Brian Redfield), who is a respected and successful physician. She, in several instances, passes as a white woman unwillingly when with her friend Clare to help her be safe and also not to annoy or anger him because he is very racist, especially towards the black community. She sees Clare as a wonderful woman who is portrayed throughout the novel making the reader have the thought that she is not confident about her looks. She has some anger and sadness about herself because she is obsessed with Clare, whom she lusts about.
Clare decides to pass as a white woman because according to her she thinks and believes that it is the only way which she acquires respect, and power in the social class but she begins to feel otherwise after she meets up with her friend Irene that she envy’s being black and develops a massive urge about returning to her real identity which is African American. Clare had observed Irene for a very long time from when she was little and had a massive obsession with her life because she had all that she wanted and believed or thought that she had a perfect home. Clare goes to live with her aunts who were white after the passing on of her father. Claire’s aunts were devoted Christians, but that did not stop them from treating her in a lesser manner because she had black blood in her veins, although she was light skin and could pass as a white woman in the public eye. Her living with her white aunts made it easy for her to give as white in her current neighborhood because the black background had been erased.
Due to her black blood in her veins, Clara was never seen as equal by her aunties although she was a direct family member, they always looked down upon her and noticed as help rather than a family member. This angered her a lot, and she knew the only way to be able to be looked upon as an equal or a famous person was by portraying herself as a white woman and more passing as one. Her dreams are met when she gets married to John Bellow, who is a renowned and successful Businessman. She can marry John by passing as white because he is a very racist man and does not like black people; he does not consider them as equal either. She was having that sort of mentality towards the black community; John would never have married Clare if he knew that she was African American. To be able to continue to enjoy her new social class and the respect she was getting, Clare had to keep hiding her right background or bloodline by continuing to pass as a white woman and also living as one. She regularly deals with her act, and it sometimes haunts her, but she has to continue with the law or lose everything that he had ever longed for.
Clare was always motivated to have more beautiful things in life, having grown up in a low-class family where they didn’t have much of their own. She envied successful people, and as noted earlier, she watched Irene’s life, which she thought to be perfect. She was born in a mixed family with her having a black father and a white mother. She later has the life she always envied by marrying John, making it a dream come true. She had still passed as a white woman, but now she had a backup on her story to be seen as an entirely white woman by marrying a guy who would never marry a black woman. She can impersonate the white character, which fits her very well, and she becomes a character of envy in the eyes of women from all kinds of races. Even though she always passed as a white woman and denied being black, she never lost her identity as a black person. That is why, after meeting with Irene, her childhood friends, her desire and passion for making a stand about her real identity burns her out. Her yearn to be identified as a black woman is seen as a risky path to take by Irene because of her husband, but she decides to take it anyways. She has become greedy and jealous about how her community is succeeding and doing great things and wants to be identified with it once again. She has become too greedy that she does not consider her children and what might partake them, or what the society might think of them having put them in such a situation as they have no clue of their mother’s secret background.
Clare has lived her entire lift fearing of being caught for passing as a white woman, but after having a daughter, she is even more afraid about her. Giving as another person or assuming a false identity is referred to as the tragedy of mullato but it has many consequences to the individual. The tragedy of mullato affects individuals mostly in the psychological ways because of the mental struggles that one has to go through in hiding his or her true identity and the worry of being caught. It can also affect the individual more after being caught, or when the true identity is revealed. In this case, Clare got obsessed with being identified as a black person that she foregone the thought of the consequences that she was to get into and the troubles she would also pass her family through. Clare goes ahead to associate herself with the black group, which is her real background, without observing the risks. Clare feels that she has not achieved the desires that she had always wanted and instead feels that connecting with the people of her background would bring her the best fulfillment. She has passed through a lot by trying to give as a white woman that she even married a racist who hated the black community and also looked down upon them. Being married to a man that despised her people might have been tough to Clare, she had to fake it every time her husband was biased and racist towards her people, that might be very angering and depressing. Her husband also comes to know about the true identity which she has kept hidden for a very long time, and it tears her apart. Clare meets her death, which is not entirely explained how it happened by falling from the window while in the company of her friend Irene. She might have been passing through depression, or have been having many thoughts about her double life that might have led her to commit suicide or from the troubles that had been caused after her husband knew about her secret.