Nella Larsen

To Pass or not to Pass? In the story Passing by Nella Larsen, the protagonists are two light-skinned African American, Clare and Irene. Irene only passes occasionally and uses passing for security and stability; however Clare builds a new identity based on passing full time for a white person. Through out the story the narrative repeatedly focuses on Irene’s insecurity and her need in order to reconnect to her true identity. It shows the damages and the harms that permanent passing can cause.…

Based in the 1920s, Passing, by Nella Larsen narrates the story of two characters, Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry who lived in a society separated by skin colour and social class. Both these women, though originating from an African-American background, were, due to their light skin, intentionally ‘passing’ as white women to fit into the white-dominated society of the time. However, this process left both Irene and Clare stuck choosing between the two cultures and races. The confusion of…

ever blended a chicken Top Ramen flavoring packet into your strawberry smoothie? Do you cut your vegetables with a straw? Just as a chicken, strawberry smoothie is appalling and using a straw as a knife is unacceptable, so was the racial mixing of Nella Larsen’s white mother and black father in the late 1800s. Growing up as a biracial woman during a time of black discrimination from whites, she could never find her place in the world. She never belonged to the persecuted blacks or the…

In Nella Larsen’s novel, “Passing” she tells the story of a two mixed race friends, Irene and Clare, one of which accepts her heritage while the other hides it by passing as a white woman. Throughout their conversation, they discuss their lives, but most importantly Clare’s descent to passing as a white woman in society. Their differences in lifestyle choices are clearly displayed, the lives they lead completely different than the other and by showing this comparison Larsen’s tries to show to…

Passing Nella Larsen’s novel, Passing, is her second work of literature and sets the scene in the 1920s. Throughout the pages, the reader is gradually faced with several conflicts such as race and identity as narrated by the main character of the novella, Irene Redfield, a married black woman with two children for whom these conflicts arise when she re-encounters an old acquaintance, Clare Kendry. Clare is presented as the antagonist and as the opposite of Irene, and the more Clare is around,…

The book Passing by Nella Larsen takes place in the 1920s Harlem Renaissance. During this time period there was a lot of tension between the white and black communities. In Passing the two characters Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry are two black women passing to be white. Throughout the story there have been feuds between Irene and Clare. In the article “The Veils of the Law: Race and Sexuality” the author argues that Passing subtly delineates the interracial sexual attraction of Irene Redfield…

The novel “Passing” by Nella Larsen is a story of passing. Passing from one race to another, passing as something one is not, or passing into death. In this novel the character Clare Kendry dies, some say she was pushed and some say she committed suicide. It is obvious Clare Kendry committed suicide. There is multiple pieces of evidence that supports the fact that Clare Kendry commits suicide at the end of the novel. The title of the novel itself can be a foreshadowing of this event taking…

Nella Larsen’s novel Passing explores two African-American women, Irene and Clare, coming to terms with their racial identity. Evenmore, Larsen demonstrates that race is a social construct when these two women are able to “pass” as white due to their lighter complexion. Irene and Clare struggle to create an identity for themselves that goes beyond any racial boundaries; however, it becomes a battle of creating an identity without facing alienation from the black community that has sustained both…

Passing (2004), by Nella Larsen, is a somber novel that is set in the 1925 to 1928-time period in Chicago and Harlem that explores the interactions between two women, Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry who are racial passing. Racial passing in the context of this book means that a person of one race can deceive others into thinking that they are of another race. This action allows for characters to adopt certain roles or identities; in which they can then be socially accepted by the rest of society…

Nella Larsen talks about this in her novel Passing. The Novel Passing by Nella Larsen is about two distant friends Clare Kendry and Irene Redfield. Both of these women are African American who have the “privilege” of being able to pass as White women. However, Irene still identify with her African…