I will concede not everyone is destined to be the next Christopher Columbus, Marie Curie, or J. Robert Oppenheimer. Some people are content in recognizing that there are oddities in this world, but do not feel drawn to discover the truth behind them and make them normalcies. However, you would be hard pressed to find someone that does not fall into the second category of queer desire. The desire to experience the world from another person’s perspective. Even Bob Dylan sings, “I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes and for just that one moment I could be you.” It is natural to wonder what life would have been like if we had been born as someone else or decided to walk down a different life path. The queer desire to live
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Each woman gave the other not a window, but a door into the other’s life. Irene struggled in her marriage. She and Brian had opposing views on how and where to raise their children. While visiting Clare at her home, Irene learned of Clare’s troubled relationship and her hardship of being married to an extremely racist man who greeted her with racial slurs, and Clare’s powerlessness in standing up to him. This proved to Irene that while her life was not perfect she at least could be completely honest about herself to the people around her, thus quelling her queer desire. Irene needed Clare in her life to reaffirm her decision to remain a part of colored society rather than to completely immerse herself into white society. Clare was desperate to reconnect with her past, and get back to her colored roots. Irene was her ticket in making her desire a reality. Through Irene Clare attended dances and parties, thus becoming well acquainted with members of the black community. As opposed to Irene, Clare became more and more consumed with the queer desire to identify as black the longer she was friends with Irene. Like Atticus Finch told six year old Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird “you never understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” …show more content…
Therefore, I feel there is a greater link between these two works of literary fiction. Both Passing and Of One Blood stimulate our queer desire as readers. The third section of Larsen’s novel is entitled Finale. This term generally indicates the summation of all of the events, questions, and plot lines that develop throughout the duration of a show, or in this case the novel. Larsen does not play to convention. In this third section Clare’s life came to a dramatic end, when her husband discovered the truth about her origins. Clare feel through a window to her death. The cause of Clare’s death was shroud in mystery. Yes, we all know she fell out of a window, but nobody present could say for certain if Clare was pushed, or rather if she fainted. The inconclusiveness of the cause of her death, is fitting because mystery and uncertainty surrounded the life of someone who “passed,” and more importantly it stems our queer desire. It is odd for an author to end a novel without giving a clear conclusion. We as readers are forced to make a judgment about the truth behind the ending. Speaking from personal experience, I could not simply let the end be the end. The queer desire in me towards the peculiarity of the inconclusive ending forced me to go back and
Each woman gave the other not a window, but a door into the other’s life. Irene struggled in her marriage. She and Brian had opposing views on how and where to raise their children. While visiting Clare at her home, Irene learned of Clare’s troubled relationship and her hardship of being married to an extremely racist man who greeted her with racial slurs, and Clare’s powerlessness in standing up to him. This proved to Irene that while her life was not perfect she at least could be completely honest about herself to the people around her, thus quelling her queer desire. Irene needed Clare in her life to reaffirm her decision to remain a part of colored society rather than to completely immerse herself into white society. Clare was desperate to reconnect with her past, and get back to her colored roots. Irene was her ticket in making her desire a reality. Through Irene Clare attended dances and parties, thus becoming well acquainted with members of the black community. As opposed to Irene, Clare became more and more consumed with the queer desire to identify as black the longer she was friends with Irene. Like Atticus Finch told six year old Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird “you never understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” …show more content…
Therefore, I feel there is a greater link between these two works of literary fiction. Both Passing and Of One Blood stimulate our queer desire as readers. The third section of Larsen’s novel is entitled Finale. This term generally indicates the summation of all of the events, questions, and plot lines that develop throughout the duration of a show, or in this case the novel. Larsen does not play to convention. In this third section Clare’s life came to a dramatic end, when her husband discovered the truth about her origins. Clare feel through a window to her death. The cause of Clare’s death was shroud in mystery. Yes, we all know she fell out of a window, but nobody present could say for certain if Clare was pushed, or rather if she fainted. The inconclusiveness of the cause of her death, is fitting because mystery and uncertainty surrounded the life of someone who “passed,” and more importantly it stems our queer desire. It is odd for an author to end a novel without giving a clear conclusion. We as readers are forced to make a judgment about the truth behind the ending. Speaking from personal experience, I could not simply let the end be the end. The queer desire in me towards the peculiarity of the inconclusive ending forced me to go back and