This doubleness, registered in Hopkins’s passing narrative Hagar’s Daughter, is emblematic of a national economy in which the law itself is counterfeit. For the slave economy to exist, the idea of racial purity must exist, and the white economy has to remain in collective denial of racial hybridity (Tuhkanen 488). The social contradictions are overwhelming, as racial identity becomes a figurative inheritance (Rohrbach 486). As the plot unfolds, Hagar and Jewel are able to escape enslavement and the storyline resumes twenty years later, post- Reconstruction America in the nation’s capital. Whereas the nation supposedly pushes a “reset” button after the uniting of the Union, the characters also press “reset” as it relates to identity, and although
…show more content…
Hopkin explores that in passing- those who are mulatto exist on the cusp of dual belonging or dual alienation. As a result of the uncertainty of classification surrounding the biracial matter, and the frequent difficulty of ascertaining racial ancestry through exterior appearance, race becomes ambiguous. This racial fluidity, which often allows the biracial subject an opportunity to "pass" and choose a racial identity, open up the question of racial hegemony. The question of racial hegemony in Hagar 's Daughter the concept of the double as a narrative remedy for burling the American concepts of race. The use of doubleness continues until the conclusion, with the death of Jewel and the reemergence of the interracial romance of St. Clair and Hagar. The audience use this double ending to foresee the future predicament of the nation, with either doom illustrated with death of the main biracial character or hope the reconciliation of interracial love. Hopkins use of duality throughout Hagar’s Daughter construct the novel’s commentary on passing as it pertains to the nation’s race relationships. Her conceptualization of biological identities, inheritance, and racial caricatures paint this dichotomous fiction that is synonymous to the state of the nation. In an overall sense of duality, Hopkins uses this work not only as groundbreaking art form into serial fiction but also call her audience into social action. The final use of duality in which that readers must cross is the dividing line between readings a book and taking action in the world (DeLamotte
Hopkin explores that in passing- those who are mulatto exist on the cusp of dual belonging or dual alienation. As a result of the uncertainty of classification surrounding the biracial matter, and the frequent difficulty of ascertaining racial ancestry through exterior appearance, race becomes ambiguous. This racial fluidity, which often allows the biracial subject an opportunity to "pass" and choose a racial identity, open up the question of racial hegemony. The question of racial hegemony in Hagar 's Daughter the concept of the double as a narrative remedy for burling the American concepts of race. The use of doubleness continues until the conclusion, with the death of Jewel and the reemergence of the interracial romance of St. Clair and Hagar. The audience use this double ending to foresee the future predicament of the nation, with either doom illustrated with death of the main biracial character or hope the reconciliation of interracial love. Hopkins use of duality throughout Hagar’s Daughter construct the novel’s commentary on passing as it pertains to the nation’s race relationships. Her conceptualization of biological identities, inheritance, and racial caricatures paint this dichotomous fiction that is synonymous to the state of the nation. In an overall sense of duality, Hopkins uses this work not only as groundbreaking art form into serial fiction but also call her audience into social action. The final use of duality in which that readers must cross is the dividing line between readings a book and taking action in the world (DeLamotte