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A review by nothingforpomegranted
Passing by Nella Larsen
5.0
There are so many stunning reviews (especially own voices reviews) of this book that are so beautiful, so poignant, and so insightful that I am hesitant to even add my thoughts as a mere distraction in the field. This edition of Nella Larsen's 1929 masterpiece included an incredible essay introduction and notes written by [a:Thadious M Davis|8450662|Thadious M Davis|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], a professor of English at Vanderbilt University and the author of several books that explore race and literature, especially in a Southern context. Davis provided a history of arbitrary race designations--and coincident practices of "passing"--beginning with the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson United States Supreme Court decision that established a precedent of "separate but equal" public institutions and facilities. This brilliant introduction not only provided tremendous insight into the context in which this book was authored, but also set a high bar for reviews/analyses of this book, and I have been thrilled to read so many other commentaries on this novel that have furthered my love and appreciation for it.
Passing is a story told in three parts, an analysis of Clare Kendry--a light-skinned black women who has spent her adult life "passing" for white and living in white high society with her explicitly racist husband and light-skinned daughter--told from the perspective of Irene Westover Redfield. Irene and Clare were friends as children but have lost touch after the death of Clare's father and her subsequent departure from the neighborhood and eventual disappearance from Irene's social milieu. While Irene has, unlike Clare, remained, married to a dark-skinned Black man with her two sons, in the Black community in Harlem in which both girls grew up, they reconnect in Chicago while both passing for white and drinking tea in a hotel bar. The rest of the book explores the relationship between these two women, and in 100 pages introduces more nuance and emotion and suspense than many novels several times the size.
In many ways, this book is a story of repressed desire. Of course, there are the oft-remarked instances of Irene's marveling at Clare's beauty, and Clare's kisses of greeting seem to go beyond what is typical among female friends, even at the time, but the themes of desire are hardly limited by sexuality and physicality. Rather, this entire book is a commentary on what might have been, Irene and Clare the other's foil in the lives they each chose. Is it better to pass? To live with financial security in high society, but without community and always paranoid about discovery? Or is it better to stay Black in Harlem? To be limited in social and financial growth by inconsistent racial barriers, but surrounded by people who love and understand you and your experience? Irene and Clare push and pull each other between these two worlds, neither seemingly satisfied with the life she's chosen, quite literally, until the very end.
Nella Larsen has created something lasting and resonant in Passing, and I am grateful to have read it, and I hope this is added to many a high school curriculum, ripe as it is for social and literary conversation.
Passing is a story told in three parts, an analysis of Clare Kendry--a light-skinned black women who has spent her adult life "passing" for white and living in white high society with her explicitly racist husband and light-skinned daughter--told from the perspective of Irene Westover Redfield. Irene and Clare were friends as children but have lost touch after the death of Clare's father and her subsequent departure from the neighborhood and eventual disappearance from Irene's social milieu. While Irene has, unlike Clare, remained, married to a dark-skinned Black man with her two sons, in the Black community in Harlem in which both girls grew up, they reconnect in Chicago while both passing for white and drinking tea in a hotel bar. The rest of the book explores the relationship between these two women, and in 100 pages introduces more nuance and emotion and suspense than many novels several times the size.
In many ways, this book is a story of repressed desire. Of course, there are the oft-remarked instances of Irene's marveling at Clare's beauty, and Clare's kisses of greeting seem to go beyond what is typical among female friends, even at the time, but the themes of desire are hardly limited by sexuality and physicality. Rather, this entire book is a commentary on what might have been, Irene and Clare the other's foil in the lives they each chose. Is it better to pass? To live with financial security in high society, but without community and always paranoid about discovery? Or is it better to stay Black in Harlem? To be limited in social and financial growth by inconsistent racial barriers, but surrounded by people who love and understand you and your experience? Irene and Clare push and pull each other between these two worlds, neither seemingly satisfied with the life she's chosen, quite literally, until the very end.
Nella Larsen has created something lasting and resonant in Passing, and I am grateful to have read it, and I hope this is added to many a high school curriculum, ripe as it is for social and literary conversation.