The Passing Nella Larsen Analysis

Artistic. Intellectual. A literary movement. These are a few words to describe the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance began towards the end of World War One. It was a period of time where African Americans experienced a rebirth through the arts, writing, music and more. Due to things like Jim Crow laws, African Americans were oppressed. The culture of African Americans ended up being subdued. Therefore the Harlem Renaissance was truly a time if finding oneself and creating new things. It was an era of revival and a rise of African American pride. Though the Harlem Renaissance didn 't affect the civil right movement or break the Jim Crow laws but it opened the eyes of African American self-worth and started to merge black and whites together through arts and linguistics. The Harlem Renaissance is seen as a period if strength for the African American people. It helped people find themselves and their identities. A prominent figures of this era is a phenomenal …show more content…
Nella Larsen is the daughter of Mary Hansen ad Peter Walker. Her mother was a Danish immigrant and her father was a black West Indian. Through her writing Nella Larsen expresses her struggles with racial identity and class alienation. In 1929, Nella Larsen wrote a novel expressing the struggles of racial identity, this sort was called The Passing. A story of two light skinned women who were childhood friends. The protagonist of the novel are Clare Kendry and Irene Redfield. Just like Nella Larsen, the characters are of mixed heritage and are light enough pass as white. Hence the title, The Passing. Though one character fully commits to passing as white, the other only does it on occasion for specific circumstances. Nella Larsen was more than a writer. She was a voice, she was one of the voices of the Harlem Renaissance, and a voice of those who had troubles with identity. She expresses her voice and identity through her writing and through her