Race in Nella Larsen’s Passing Essay Example

Nella Larsen’s novel Passing discusses and analyzes the advantages and disadvantages that racial passing offers to the characters in the novel and the indivisible relationship between blackness and whiteness. Passing emphasizes the notion that race is not merely a matter of skin color. The novel uses the descriptions of first impressions and relationships present in two scenes; the opening scene where Clare and Irene get reacquainted and the introduction between Clare’s husband and Irene to demonstrate the flexibility of race . Ultimately, Larsen demonstrates that race is a matter of performance and color a matter of perception and obligation. 

Although Clare and Irene had been previously acquainted through childhood, their reintroduction emphasizes how race was not the key or primary factor that allowed for them to recognize each other. When Clare addressed Irene by her childhood name she questioned “What white girls had she known well enough to have been familiarly addressed…” ( Larsen 15). Clare seems to play the part of a white person very well as opposed to Irene as she's had years of practice to perfect her lifestyle. Irene only recognizes Clare through her laugh and slowly begins to make remarks such as “Ah! Surely! They were Negro eyes! Mysterious and concealing.” ( Larsen 30). It was only until they continued talking that she began to perceive Claire as less and less white, and the color of her skin had not changed for the duration of the conversation so it would have had to be something else. Irene is utilizing Clare’s physical appearance to make up for the fact that she did not recognize her and thought her to be a white woman. Clare is not any more of a black person than she was before giving her identity. This goes to show that Clare is only viewed as white or black based on how she presents herself. When Clare is seen in the setting of the Drayton hotel, she has the ability to fool everyone around her, but when her past and behavior is brought up in Irenes thoughts is when she really begins to see her as another race entirely. 

While Clare completely devoted herself to the act of passing, Irene only did so occasionally and the method in which she does so reveals the importance of performance when it comes to race. When afraid that someone might catch onto her act, she reveals how “It wasn’t that she was ashamed of being a Negro…It was the idea of being ejected from any place” (Larsen 14). Irene also puts on her own performance when attempting to pass for the same reasons that Clare does…for convenience. They both wanted to be perceived a certain way, so they acted a certain way. Clare ties herself to her race out of a sense of duty along with her family and friends. She feels that she has an obligation to her race and so she made sure she was involved in her Harlem community. Her community viewed her black because of the role and act that she played with them and others, such as the people at the Drayton, view her another way because of the role and act she portrayed there. In her case, the color of her skin has nothing to do with race as she can easily cross the line. 

The scene in which John, Clare’s husband, is introduced also demonstrates how the typical notions tied to race, such as color, love, and familial devotion are not always present when it comes to determining race. As Irene and Gertrude are friends of Clare and due to their light skin tones, John believes them to be white women and expresses kindness to them. When asked the question on his dislike towards people of color he states “Nothing like that at all. I don’t dislike them. I hate them.” ( Larsen 44). His statement is ironic as he is in the presence of three colored women and he has no knowledge of it, showing that one’s race cannot always be determined by skin color. Irene stays silent throughout the ordeal and puts on a very difficult performance despite her increasing anger and disgust. Instead of expressing her duty to her family and community, she instead expressed her allegiance with Clare and that caused her to be rendered silent, much to her dismay. John even refers to his wife with his version of an affectionate nickname, “Nig”, and that further bothers Irene. Although she does not understand why Clare allows herself to be subjected to such blatant racism, she still felt obligated to protect her secret due to their connection of race. While Irene expresses a duty to her family and race, Clare’s relationship to what she identifies as is affective. 

Clare had let go of everything in her past in order to pass and when confronted with the lifestyle and friends she left behind, she continued to blur the lines between her whiteness and blackness. When Clare had confronted her husband about having even a drop of colored blood her, he responded with “You can get as black as you please as far as I’m concerned, since I know you’re no nigger. I draw the line at that.” (Larsen 43). He is essentially stating that the color of her skin does not matter and she spent years lying to her husband knowing she simply had to go on with the act of passing. As Clare and Irene began to spend more time together during the time of the Harlem Renaissance, where black intellectual and cultural life was being revived, Clare had expressed a need and desire to integrate herself into the lifestyle that Irene has. As she shifts her time between Irene and her husband, she is also shifting her race from one to another through her behavior and the way that people perceive her. She seems to be playing a game of racial roulette with no regard to the people around her, from her supposed affair to lying to her husband for a number of years and to the limited affection she seems to have for both John and her daughter. Clare does not seem to hold a sense of duty to either of the lives that she was living and simply alters her behavior to however she wants people to see and treat her. 

Nella Larsen explored the fluid nature that passing allowed when it came to switching between different races through behavioral and obligatory means. The explosive dynamic between Irene and Clare demonstrates the dangerous impact that lies between social obligation and liberty to fulfill one's desires. Both women crossed the color and racial line and ultimately failed to live the simple and convenient life that passing seemed to offer.