Double-Consciousness In Passing By Nella Larson

Double-Consciousness The concept of “Double-Consciousness” is typically known for being a common experience among the black community in America. When broken down, double-consciousness can be explained as the feeling of one’s identity, but split into different parts, instead of one whole identity. Dubois’ explanation of this concept is “One ever feels his two-ness,--an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two reconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.” (The Souls of Black Folk). Dubois highlights why the black American experience is the best example of double-consciousness at play. This is because the community often gets separated, between their race (black), and their nationality (American). One work that develops this idea perfectly, is Passing by Nella Larson. Throughout the story, it can be seen that the one of the main characters, Clare Kendry, separates her American identity, from her black identity. Clare manages to do this through “Passing” as white all the time. However, to Clare, she passes to live a lifestyle she believes she prefers, only to change her mind later on. She seems to have a double-consciousness, while isolating …show more content…
In Passing by Nella Larson, Clare Kendry divides her identity, into two separate ones, her race and herself. While passing as a typical white American, Clare forgets her roots as a black woman. This forces her to later feel like she is living two separate lives. This similar concept is applied many times throughout Citizen by Claudia Rankine as well, by displaying the narrator’s conflict with choosing to defend their black identity or separate and ignore it in certain situations. However, this shows many members of the black community are faced with this conflict, and are forced to separate their black identity from their American