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Summary Of Nella Larsen's Passing

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I never really questioned my identity as an American until last year, when my English teacher asked me what my name was. She knew my name was Kerry Yang, just as it said on the attendance roster and all the assignments I had passed in, so what exactly did she mean? I was confused at first, but it quickly dawned on me that she was perfectly aware of what she was asking. While her question was not outright offensive, it was a microaggression that implied that the name “Kerry” did not fit me. When Irish immigrants fled the Great Potato Famine during the 1800’s in search of a better life in the United States, they brought the name “Kerry” with them. The Irish were initially discriminated against and hated along with many other immigrants for “stealing jobs” and in general, for being outsiders in society because of their differences. However, as future generations of immigrants adopted American customs and language, white immigrants like the Irish were harder to differentiate from the populous …show more content…

The book takes place in the 1920’s, when African-Americans were discriminated against and when segregation was legal. One of the main characters, Clare Kendry, is a light-skinned biracial woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. Claire recognizes the privileges of being an accepted as caucasian, and uses her physical appearance to bypass the repressive laws of the Jim Crow era and fully integrate herself into white American society. For example, Clare is able to go into restaurants and shops that are marked “Whites Only,” and is served and attended to with gusto. Furthermore, Claire marries an extremely racist white man who initially has no idea that she is actually biracial, and has a child with him. Despite the fact that she is actually of African-American descent, her “passing” is never questioned by outsiders because she looks, and therefore is,

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Passing Of Nella Larsen Summary

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The novel Passing of Nella Larsen held the historical and legal implications which can be seen through the judicial case of Homer Plessy who had one-eighth black and seven- eighths white. Plessy was forcibly jailed for sitting in the whites- only section on the railroad car in Louisiana. In 1896, at the Supreme Court, he argued that his black ancestry was insignificant and he was a white person by all definitions. The Supreme Court said that forcing Plessy to exclude from the whites section was against the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments about equal protection. However, Judge John Howard Ferguson affirmed that treating all people equally did not paralleled with eliminating social distinction based on colors.

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Nella Larsen's Passing

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When Push Comes to Shove Would you kill your oldest friend if she was a threat to your marriage and possibly life as a whole? Well, for Irene Redfield the answer is clear. Set in the 1920’s, Nella Larsen’s Passing is a gripping novel following the lives of Clare Kendry and Irene Redfield, two ferocious women who would do anything to get what they desire. When Clare ‘falls’ out of a window, the question arises, did Irene murder Clare? Larsen’s portrayal of Irene begins to unravel due to her insecurities about her marriage and distrust of Clare.

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Summary Of Passing By Nella Larsen

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According to Landry, Nella Larsen wrote Passing to furtively cover a subject that was more taboo than the racial issues of the early twentieth century. Specifically the issues that mulatto women faced when assimilating into the white world without self-identifying. Landry states that it was safe for Nella Larsen to write a story about the subject of the mulatto women while interweaving a love affair between two women. Landry argues that “ women of mixed ethnicity fear being defined by other African Americans as race traitors if they resist sexual and gender norms”(26) and that the direct consequence of defying the social norms of the era would be self-loathing and blame. Landry goes on to explain that the negative feelings toward their selves

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The Role Of Deception In Nella Larsen's Passing

575 Words | 3 Pages

1920’s society offered a prominent way for blacks that look white to exploit its barrier and pass in society. Visible within Nella Larsen’s Passing, access to the regular world exists only for those who fit the criteria of white skin and white husband. Through internal conflict and characterization, the novella reveals deception slowly devours the deceitful. In Passing, Clare and Irene both deceive people. They both engage in deceit by having the ability to pass when they are not of the proper race to do so.

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Summary Of Passing By Nella Larsen

1764 Words | 8 Pages

Nella Larsen’s novel Passing is a brilliant portrayal depicting how light skinned African Americans were able to live their lives as white people if they so wished and the fallout sometimes associated with this racial passing. Although passing may seem beneficial to those who can blend into mainstream society, passing has several negative effects on one’s acceptance in the African American community. Such a negative effects can include the view of passing “as an instance of racial self-hatred or disloyalty” (CITE 2). In a sense, the one who passes can be considered a traitor to their natural race in that they have abandoned their in favor of a less stigmatized race. After all, race plays an important role in the formation of one’s identity

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African American Identity In Nella Larson's Passing

409 Words | 2 Pages

Nella Larson’s novel Passing, tells the story of two African American women Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry who embark on a journey to “reconnect” with one another. Although, similar in appearance, these two women were very different in the way they determined race. For women like Irene and Clare who were physically able to “pass” as white women, despite having African American heritage the typical connotation that race was distinguished by the color of one’s skin did not apply to them. As a result, many women like Irene and Clare would cross the racial lines. The character Clare Kendry was the perfect example of “passing.”

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Motherhood In Nella Larsen's Passing

1484 Words | 6 Pages

It is often said that a new definition of a woman arose in the 1920s. But is that true? While most women experienced many newfound freedoms in the 1920s, black women could not explore these freedoms as easily as white women. In the novel Passing by Nella Larsen, Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry grew up in Chicago together and are now both two wives and mothers in New York City during the 1920s, but there is a big difference between them. The novel’s title refers to light-skinned black women masquerading as white women for social benefits.

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The story takes place at the height of the Civil Rights Movement in America, when desegregation is finally achieved. Flannery O’Connor’s use of setting augments the mood and deepens the context of the story. However, O’Connor’s method is subtle, often relying on connotation and implication to drive her point across. The story achieves its depressing mood mostly through the use of light and darkness in the setting.

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Inner Conflict In Nella Larsen's Passing

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Racism was always a big issue and still occurs today. The story “Passing” took place in the 1920’s during the Harlem Renaissance and it spoke about the term “Passing” which indicates that African American’s who looked lighted skin can go to public places without being discriminated. In “Passing” Nella Larsen demonstrates how racism causes jealousy, resentment, and dishonesty in relationships. The idea is conveyed through inner conflict, the conflict between the main characters and how the Harlem Renaissance period inflicts tension in relationships.

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Passing Nella Larsen Analysis

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Passing, a novel by Nella Larsen, addresses the issue of race by telling the story of two African American women - Clare Kendry and Irene Redfield - who represent different aspects of passing1. In the novel, passing refers to the process of crossing the color line, where a light skinned person who belongs to the black racial community enjoys white privilege2. However, people who pass struggle with double consciousness as they long to honor their race without necessarily being associated with it3. The novel is highly invested in ambiguity to show the fluidity and complexity of race, and how it paves the way for passing4. Passing illustrates the struggle African Americans face with their unchosen race and their attempt to control their identity

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