ipl-logo

Theme Of Passing In Literature Essay

912 Words4 Pages

A common theme in literature is the notion of “passing”, especially in works about race. Passing is where a character takes on another identity to meet an objective. This could be trying to escape racial persecution or to obtain a better economic status. One example is Birdie, the main character of Caucaisa, who is forced to pass as Jesse Goldman a white Jewish girl. In the novel Caucasia by Danzy Senna the protagonist Birdie “passes” as a white girl to escape from the FBI, but it takes a toll on her identity and it diminishes her sense of self. Birdie is forced to pass as a white girl, and she loses contact with her black identity. Her mother forces her to pass as a white girl in order to escape from the FBI. “The FBI would be looking for a white woman on the lam with her black child. But the fact that I …show more content…

She asks people around her if they think she is black, or what color do they think she is. The result of playing this game is that she slowly takes on more and more of a white identity. She increasingly confused with who she is. She has to ask other people what whiteness is like. She is unable to figure it out herself, so she has to rely on the opinion of others. “It was to strange to think that Jesse Goldman was really gone, that I had erased her in just one night”(pg 306) Her white identity is not permanent, so she can remove it very quickly and resort to her true black self. The novel Caucasia examines how racial identity forms one's self awareness. In many works up to this point, blackness or whiteness is binary. Danzy makes a compelling case through the ordeal of Birdie that a person is composed of a symphony of racial and ethnic elements, each of which contributes some piece to the whole. Nobody is one of anything. the notion of passing is turned from binary to a chameleon. The twist of the novel is that a blend of identity turns out to be negative. This is brought out through the use of

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of Passing By Nella Larson

    211 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Passing by Nella Larson, two biracial women pass as white while one embraces her black identity the other denies her black identity. Race, identity, and belonging is determined by the culture the family choses to identity with. Clare has no other choice but to accept her white culture on the surface but she desires to be reconnected back to her black culture. Clare decision to accept her white culture was for the privileges that came from passing. Biracial children have a difficult time finding a sense of self and where they belong.

    Read More

  • 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.”

    Read More

  • Color Red In The Holocaust

    191 Words  | 1 Pages

    The fact that she is in color seems to show that she still has an imagination,that not everything in her life is black and white, but there is a little

    Read More

  • Birdie Character Analysis

    1211 Words  | 5 Pages

    Birdie is not an easy read, an unexpected fact, considering the woman who penned it, Tracey Lindberg, is a lawyer and professor by trade. The difficulty in reading the novel comes not only from its harrowing subject matter but also from the way the story is told. It’s non-linear and jumps back and forth from the present to the past. At the start of each chapter are poems, which often transform characters into animals, such as Bernice Meetos/Birdie who longs to return to the tree, Pimatisewin. The story doesn’t entirely belong to Bernice however, as the chapters tell the story of Beatrice from the voice of five different women- her cousin, aunt, mother, landlord and herself.

    Read More

  • Literary Devices In Waxen Wings

    708 Words  | 3 Pages

    Her name can also be used as irony. She wants to fly, and birds fly. When Birdie tries to fly, she fails. In the beginning she is successful because she is so tiny that she can stay in the air longer than most of the children. Once she falls in her competition, it is pretty much over for her.

    Read More

  • The Pursuit Of Dreams In Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God

    824 Words  | 4 Pages

    As a child, Janie did not even realize that she was actually black until she shown in a photograph among a group of white children. After growing up confused about her identity, Janie struggled with conflicting thoughts about love and marriage. Through a series of relationships, Janie found herself constantly struggling against

    Read More

  • Nella Larsen Passing Analysis

    1919 Words  | 8 Pages

    Nella Larsen’s Passing is a novella about the past experiences of African American women ‘passing’ as whites for equal opportunities. Larsen presents the day to day issues African American women face during their ‘passing’ journey through her characters of Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry. During the reading process, we progressively realize ‘passing’ in Harlem, New York during the 1920’s becomes difficult for both of these women physically and mentally as different kinds of challenges approach ahead. Although Larsen decides the novella to be told in a third person narrative, different thoughts and messages of Irene and Clare communicate broken ideas for the reader, causing the interpretation of the novella to vary from different perspectives.

    Read More

  • Colorism In Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God

    1012 Words  | 5 Pages

    To advance in society, the characters must stick together and not attempt to tear each other apart. It is hypocritical for someone to condemn another person for something that they also practice; “colorism and traditional U.S. racism are inextricably intertwined, yet distinct” (Harris 54). However, this demonstrates how racism has influenced the thoughts of those oppressed by it. It is ironic that although Janie is the person with the lightest skin and has grown up in a white household, she does not have these views. The people with darker skin have these colorist views toward her.

    Read More

  • 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.

    Read More

  • Passing Nella Larsen Analysis

    1551 Words  | 7 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Identity In Danzy Senna's Caucasia

    1389 Words  | 6 Pages

    The intersection of race and parenting is portrayed in an ineffective way in Danzy Senna’s Caucasia with damaging results on the life and racial identity of Birdie Lee at the hands of both of her parents however, Deck Lee’s relationship with Birdie is most significant in shaping her identity in a negative way. The story starts when the narrating character Birdie, is eight years old growing up biracial in her Boston home with her two parents and older sister. The two sisters have the same parents, yet dissimilar looks that often have people they meet question their relation to each other. Having a Black father and a White mother who are at odds with their own identities makes it difficult for Birdie to begin to have a healthy identification

    Read More

  • What Is Hurston's Message In Their Eyes Were Watching God

    957 Words  | 4 Pages

    She has been a stranger to herself for six years, not knowing about her racial identity. She had never thought of herself as black because she has lived with white people all her life. It takes is one photograph with her friends for her to find out her skin color. In the book it states, “Ah was wid dem white chillun so much till Ah didn’t know Ah wuzn’t white till Ah was round six years old. Wouldn’t have found it out then, but a man come long takin’ pictures and without askin’ anybody, Shelby, dat was de oldest boy, he told him to take us.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Nella Larsen's Passing

    1095 Words  | 5 Pages

    I will be taking a postmodern approach to the text and supplementing it with modernism and psychoanalytic theories before stating my final stance that postmodernism may be the most appropriate approach. This approach ensures that different perspectives are present in my analysis and ensures that it is not one-sided. The question that I hope to focus my argument on is “Does the postmodernist approach better emerge the idea of self from racism?” Rottenberg, Catherine. " Passing : Race, Identification, and Desire. " Criticism, vol. 45, no. 4, 2004, pp. 435-452.

    Read More

  • Stereotypes In The Film Imitation Of Life

    418 Words  | 2 Pages

    Moreover, demonstrate consequences are taken to oppress racial and ethnic minorities to keep them in a subservient position. Overall, this film has provided me with a visual depiction of how stereotypes are a mental tool that enforces racial segregation and self-hate. The label of “White” became a necessity for Sarah Jane to achieve in society. To attain it she needed to move to a new city, change her name and deny her mother.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Racism In Toni Morrison's Sula

    1194 Words  | 5 Pages

    The discrimination against the white race begins with a gradual distinct treatment of the African Americans who appear to have a trace of the white race. Helene proves to have a more formal dialect as she asks for “the bathroom” (23) and the black woman cannot understand until Helene finally refers to it as “the toilet” (23). The difference in word choice distinct Helene from the African Americans in the Bottom. The fact that Helene also has fairer skin than the African Americans gives the black woman a reason to believe Helene has a trace of white. Therefore, when Helene approaches the black woman on the train, “[the woman fastens her eyes]…on the thick velvet, the fair skin, [and] the high tone voice” (23), as if surprised and shocked to see an African American women appear in such a manner.

    Read More

More about Theme Of Passing In Literature Essay

Open Document