Passing By

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,…

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…

though death is near for some, for others life and berry picking is just beginning. In both poems the authors center on the themes of time passing, the appearance of the blackberries and the future. In the two poems the idea of time passing is seen as inevitable, and a thought that both authors accept in their work. Heaney shows in his poem the quick passing of the blackberries being: premature, turning ripe, and in the end fermenting, all in a short 24-line poem. This quick representation of…

My Father’s Passing On March 13, 1994 I lost my farther to congestive heart disease, he was 60, he died in his home. He was disabled by the time he was 55. He had Medicaid for health insurance. He died after being hospitalized for two weeks due to low blood pressure, 80/35. His blood pressure never improved during his stay. I feel he was sent home to die. He lived about a week after being released. I feel he only lived that long do to the fact when he was released from the hospital I was in…

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…

increases the passing time from six to eight minutes and have staffs and hall monitors regulate the flow of traffic. Although some teachers think the passing time is sufficient and should remain the same,students are finding it more diificult to adjust to these new changes. The overcrowded hallways are not the only problem students at the Irondale High School is facing this school year.The school district made a very drastic change which is highly noticeable in the school,the shortage of passing…

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 Bible is like a small library that contains many books written by many important authors. The word "Bible" comes from the Greek word biblia, meaning "books" (“Passing Stories”). In the article “Passing Stories”on American Bible Society.org “it took more than 1,100 years for the book to be written down, and it was many more years before the list of books now known as the Bible came together in one large book.” The bible was made in many different times one person did not just sit down and…

American fiction is driven by the contradictions between the perceived success of American culture versus the reality of American society. Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, and Passing, by Nella Larsen, both feed on this idea, for they both remark and criticize the superficial success of the American society, and reveal its underlying malfunction. In a time in which slavery was morally accepted, Huckleberry Finn remarks on the backwards nature of the oppressive institution. By detailing the…

LeShawn Gamble Professor Deidre Ray TLIT 4 March 2018 Review of Intersectionality: Exploring the Racial Dichotomy Nella Larsen’s Passing introduces us to the idea of intersectionality through the eyes of two co-protagonists featured in her narrative. Passing is a literary work that embodies the realist and truest forms of race as a social construct. This does not however, diminished its power when it comes to the real life experiences of those imbedded in its feral grip. Intersectionality is a…