Clare And Irene Passing Analysis

In Passing, the act of "passing" generally has very different influences and outcomes for Clare and Irene. The women have different ways of going about passing. Irene sees being able to pass as more of a convenience. She still identifies herself as a "Negro," but treats it as though people cannot tell, which in most cases, they cannot. She did seem concerned that Clare knew she was black at the Drayton: "Did that woman, could that woman, somehow know that here before her very eyes on the roof of the Drayton say a Negro?" (16). We also see that Irene still considers herself a part of "Negro society" when she tries to convince herself she did not merely invite Clare to Idlewild out of social convention: "It wasn't she assured herself, that she was a snob, that she cared greatly for the petty restrictions and distinctions with which what …show more content…
Irene seems to disapprove of the general idea of passing, claiming that Clare has done an "abhorrent thing" in living her life as a white woman (28). Irene has married a darker man who "couldn't exactly 'pass'" (37). This suggests that while she is able to pass, she recognizes and tries to stay within the social class her birth has set for her. Clare manages passing in a very different way. Clare has married a white man and had a child who she was afraid "might be dark" (36). By this point in her life, Clare does not seem to identify herself with the "Negro society" Irene does. Clare is almost unable to even talk about Irene's husband due to his different color: "Finally she managed to stammer: 'Oh! And your husband, is he--is he--er--dark, too?'" (36). Shortly after, she remarks, "colored people--we--are too silly about some things," setting the we apart from