Theme Of Passing Essay

In this paper, I will examine how passing leads to tragic deaths by lynching and committing suicide and causes unstable identity. To support my thesis statement I chose to compare and contrast “Passing” by Nella Larsen and “Incogengro” by Mat Johnson. Racism has been a constant growing issue since the time when European’s arrived in this country around the time of 1400’s. From that colonial era, all rights were given to the white supremacy world and colored people were abandoned. However, the term “passing” is a more complicated issue. This term usually belongs to the idea of biracial identity, which means a person is considered to be in more than one racial category. However, passing helps to escape from racism, but the consequences …show more content…
We pretty much know that tragic mulatto character’s lives ends by suicide in most cases and in Clare’s situation this fact hasn’t change. While Clare’s husband found that Clare is not white, she understood that she won’t be able to survive anymore in such racist society, so she pushed herself through the window and ended her life. According to Larsen “Clare stood at the window…she seemed unaware of any danger or uncaring. There was even a faint smile on her full, red lips, and in her shining eyes” (238-239). This paragraph represents that when Clare knew that the secret is revealed now, there is nothing left for her. The symbol of faint smile represents that she accepted her fate and the death. A film that resemblance almost the same situation as Clare called “I Passed for white”. In this film, a girl named Bernie lee, who is passing as a white woman decided to leave her family to start a new better life. In the new place, she met with a white man and got married to him by keeping her identity secret and she kept lying about her family while her in-laws family wanted to meet them. At the end, her identity eventually revealed to the husband and the consequences were she lost her marriage and her baby, which pretty much resemblance Clare as well. The only difference is Clare decided to die by leaving her children. But, Bernice lee decided to move ahead. However, the fact …show more content…
In the book of “Incognegro” by Mat Johnson presented lynching in such a way that sums up the entire black history. Mat Johnson expressed his experiences by this graphic novel. Zane Pinchback, the main character who is passing as a white man, working as a new reporter to expose lynching by going undercover. While Zane was thinking to leave his job, he decided to work on one more case in Mississippi, Tupelo, where his brother has accused of murder his white girlfriend. Zane’s friend Carl insisted to go with him and his death occurred there by lynching. However, this graphic novel opens up by showing lynching and ended up in the same way. Moreover, In the Graphic Mystery of “Incognegro”, besides racial passing, there is another type of passing occurred, which is “Gender Passing”. For instance, Mat Johnson represented a female as a male character named Francis Jefferson. She hides herself in the jungle to stay from her crazy family and all the obstacles in her life. Also, by appearing as a male, it would be easier for her to get a job. But, her life ended up killed by the sheriff. So, this event also shows that when someone is passing either by gender or skin color and hiding the secret for the sake of the beneficial facts, ultimately the result turns in a bad situation. However, this book has so much drama, violence, confusion and of course racism. Also, the author used graphic imagery to make this lynching tragedy more