Passing Nella Larsen Analysis

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Passing
The term “passing” is characterized by an individual who pretends to be of another cultural group (I.e of another race, religion, gender or sexuality) in order to either gain a higher standing in society or survive in it. Nella Larsen’s novel entitled “Passing”, is a story about the struggle of being mixed race in 1920’s. Throughout the novel Larsen’s titular characters, Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry, are constantly struggling to live in between black and white culture because they are mixed race. While Irene mostly embraces her black culture, Clare struggles to survive in a world that so openly condemns being black. In chapter 2 Irene visits a “White’s only” hotel in order to grab a cool drink on an intensely hot day and becomes insecure or her race, Larsen writes: “ Again she looked up, and for a moment her brown eyes politely returned the stare of the other's black ones… Did that woman, could that woman, somehow know that here before her very eyes …show more content…
Larsen writes “It was the idea of being ejected from any place, even in the polite and tactful way in which the Drayton would probably do it, that disturbed her.” This demonstrates Irene’s defensive nature that arises when she suspects Clare of having an affair with her husband Brian and trying to steal her life away from her. Irene’s reaction to seeing Clare embodies the feelings of most black and mixed race people during the 1920’s. While Harlem was more of a safe haven for black people, the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups were re-emerging with many of them forming in northern America. Irene’s fear of being “outed” as being black, represents the fears of most black people in America during the
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