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Nella Larsen's Passing Passage Analysis

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This passage from DuBois is relevant to Nella Larsen’s Passing in many ways. Irene experienced the same double consciousness as DuBois describes, yet she experienced it differently for she could “pass” as a different race. As a women of color “passing” she was well aware of what white people looked for to define a person’s race, “White people were so stupid about such things….. finger-nails, palms of hands, shapes of ears, teeth…” (16) She talked about being mistaken for other races such as Italian or Mexican, I wonder what kind of treatment people of those races got from white, 1920’s America? What caused Irene to contemplate the absurd ways of white America was a look from a stranger (who we would find out was her friend Clare). When she

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