Pass Into The White Community As Clare example essay topic

Passing and Human Relationships The Harlem Renaissance was a turning point for many African Americans. A vast amount of literature was created specifically for this group during this era. For the first time, African Americans were being told that it was okay to be proud of who they were. This new consciousness and self-awareness was prominent in many works of literature, but several writers began exploring the darker side of this movement with literature that concentrated on the negative aspects of race relations in America. Nella Larsen's novel Passing concentrates on this theme with the story of Clare, a tragic mulatto who 'passes' as a white person. Not only is Passing representative of the plight of the tragic mulatto, it is also a novel that explores the complexities of human relationships.

As defined by critic Claudia Tate, a tragic mulatto is a 'character who passes [as a white person] and then reveals pangs of anguish resulting from forsaking his or her black identity' (142). Clare Kendry's life is a perfect example of the plight of the tragic mulatto. In Passing, Clare seems to have 'one overriding urge: to return to the [African American] world she left' (Davis 98). Clare tells her friend Irene Redfield that 'she can't know how in this pale life of mine I am all the time seeing the bright pictures of that other that I once thought I was glad to be free of... It's like an ache, a pain that never ceases' (Larsen 145). She also realizes how much she wants to see African Americans, 'to be with them again, to talk with them, to hear them laugh' (Larsen 200).

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 one-sided (Larsen 144). Irene considers Clare to be 'selfish, cold and hard' (Larsen 144). Irene also feels that Clare does not have 'even 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). Although there may be some truth to this statement, 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 mulatto... emerging as an individual, not as a stereotype' (Davis 98). Her desire to return to her own race on her own terms illustrates her individuality in the face of a stereotypical tragic mulatto. Clare may not be the typical tragic mulatto, but her actions prove that she belongs in this group of literary figures. Clare Kendry passes in order to secure a more stable life.

Her desire to do this begins when she is young, after her African American father dies and she is left with her white aunts. While there, Clare begins to want more than what she has as an African American. She 'used to go over to the south side, and used to almost hate all [African Americans]. [They] had all the things she wanted and never had had. It made [her] all the more determined to get them' (Larsen 159). In order to get what she wants Clare marries a white man, John Bellew, under the pretense that she is white.

Clare is then required to 'deny everything about her past-her girlhood, her family, her language, places with memories, folk customs, folk rhymes, and the entire long line of people that have gone before her' (Washington 50). She realizes that this is the only way she can get the middle-class stability she craves. Passing for Clare means to lose something of one's soul. The fact that she has to deny her identity in order to feel safe eventually leads to her realization that her life has become a lie. Clare tells Irene that she 'nearly died of terror the whole nine months before Margery (her daughter) was born for fear that she might be dark' (Larsen 168). Her husband nicknamed her 'Nig,' because she gets darker each day.

Although Clare's desire to return to the African American community outwardly seemed merely whimsical, inwardly, Irene begins to see 'something groping, and hopeless, and yet so absolutely determined' inside this woman (Larsen 200). Clare will stop at nothing to leave the life she once desired in order to re-enter the African American community. Clare begins to realize that her desire to return to her African American heritage overshadows any disaster it may cause. In order to 'get the things she wants badly enough, she'd do anything, hurt anybody, throw anything away' (Larsen 210). In reality, Clare's ultimate 'loss of soul' is realized in the fact that she is willing to forsake her family, including her daughter, in order to reclaim her racial identity.

This, not her eventual death, becomes Clare's ultimate tragedy. She loses something of her own soul living in the world of white men. Clare feels that society forces her to abandon her family simply because part of her is African American. The fact that Clare pretends to be white in order to secure an economically stable life is crucial to understanding the motivations for people who pass. First for these people, 'there was an economic motivation.

When almost every job of any consequence in the white world... were closed to the Negro, it was only natural for those who could pass to take advantage of their color' (Davis 97). Clare also passes 'because it enables her to marry a man of means. Because she, like most other black women of the 1920's, if she achieved any middle-class status, did it by virtue of a man's presence in her life by virtue of his status' (Washington 48). Clare tells Irene that 'money's awfully nice to have. In fact all things considered... it's even worth the price' of passing (Larsen 160).

Clare's motivation for passing does not mean that she feels that the African American race is beneath her. Instead, she understands that passing allows her to escape the poverty she faces as an African American. Clare's reason for entering the white community is to gain economic viability, which John Bellew can provide for her. Irene can pass if she desires, but her marriage to a respectable African American doctor already secures her status in the middle-class black society. She does not have to hide her true identity because she has already achieved the same kind of social status that Clare so desperately desires. Irene does occasionally pass, more seemingly out of coincidence.

Her feelings of being discovered in the Drayton passing as a white woman illustrate her conflict. She does not want to be humiliated and asked to leave because of her black heritage, but on the other hand, she does not want to pass to allow acceptance there. Irene's passing is hypocritical because she considers it acceptable for herself to do it, but is disappointed in Clare for using the same tactic. Irene does not completely pass into the white community as Clare does, but her willingness to deceive in order to gain social status, like the tea at the Drayton, illustrates another motivation behind passing.

The theme of passing is significant in Larsen's novel, however, Passing also centers on the complexity of human relationships. The racial dilemmas of the novel illuminate intricate relationships amongst Clare, Irene and Brian. Passing is told in third person omniscient point of view, centering on the life of Irene Redfield. Because of this, her thoughts and feelings remain the backdrop of the story. The reader is most informed of her feelings and thoughts.

Therefore, the text becomes biased towards Irene. Irene Redfield is a woman whose most prized possession is the security of her life. She regards 'all other plans, all other ways... as menaces, more of less indirect, to that security of place and substance which she insists up on for her sons and in a lesser degree for herself' (Larsen 190). This is why her relationship with her husband Brian is so strained. She cannot understand why he dreams of moving away from the United States. This would mean change, and Irene does not 'like changes, particularly changes that affected the's.