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35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Passing, November 10, 2001
Nella Larsen's 1929 novella, "Passing," is an incredible, dark exploration of the lengths to which people go to secure personal happiness. Coming out just four years after "The Great Gatsby," "Passing" can be seen in more than one way as the Harlem Renaissance's response to and a parallel text of Fitzgerald's acknowledged masterwork. Not to limit Larsen's skills by strict comparison to "Gatsby," "Passing" should of course, be considered on its own merits, which are considerable. Difficult to place as simply the work of a talented black woman writer, Larsen's "Passing" is a novella with carefully nuanced and complicated views of racial, sexual, economic, and more generally personal and national identity. Indeed, the narrative is right to sugges that these are inextricable and forces the reader to adjudicate the struggle. "Passing" begins with a letter received. By inviting us to peer into the contents of personal correspondence in the grand tradition of the epistolary novel, then denying us the full contents, the reader must come to terms with a limited, and even deceptive narrative style. Irene Redfield refuses to open a letter she has just gotten from a childhood acquaintance with whom she has had only brief communication with since, Clare Kendry. Irene then reflects on the time, two years ago, when she happened unexpectedly upon Clare at a rooftop restaurant in Chicago. As 'black' women who can 'pass' for 'white,' they meet at this decidedly white restaurant, after gauging each other in confused silence. Renewing their acquaintance, Irene is shocked to learn that since her young adulthood, Clare has 'passed' as white, even marrying a wealthy white businessman, whose violent racism forces Clare to disavow her ethnic 'identity.' The remainder of the novella details the strained relationship that forms between Irene and Clare, and the differences as well as striking similarities that structure their personal and social adult lives. The ways that minor characters interact with the two heroines force us to question the long standing American discourse of racial 'identity.' Brian Redfield, Irene's husband, and Jack Bellew, Clare's husband, for instance, seem on the surface to be drastically opposite characters - Brian, fed up with the way that black people are treated in America, has a long cherished fantasy of relocating his family to Brazil, the ur-text, if you will, of African slavery in the New World, where he believes his sons can be raised without the torments of ethnic conflict in post-reconstruction and post-World War America. Bellew, an avowed white racist, detests the very thought of black people, and his pet name for Clare, "Nig," troubles for the reader the very notions of Bellew's construction of his own identity. Irene and Clare's marriages to these two men challenge them and the reader to consider the strained family dynamics of the 'traditional' marriage, and their own awkwardly constituted and expressed relationship with each other. "Passing" manages to both cover and conceal a wealth of issues facing America in the decades preceding the national Civil Rights, Anti-War, and Sexual Revolution movements of the latter half of the 20th century. In the short space of a novella, Larsen produces a work of extraordinary power and indeterminacy. That the issues she addresses are still of a piece with our own present-day social landscape, so "Passing" remains a vital and important literary artifact.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Don't Pass On Passing, May 27, 2000
It only takes Nella Larsen one hundred and fourteen pages to produce a thought provoking and imaginative story about the Black bourgeoisie in 1920s Harlem. At a time when men were the prominent literary figures, Larsen was the first writer to explore the issues facing the fair skinned middle class. Larsen confronts racy issues such as sexism and racism while using language so potent it sparks rivers of curiosity to flow from the reader's mind. Through the provocative relationship between friends Clare and Irene, Larsen manages to captivate the audience with a story full of jealousy, lies, and ultimately betrayal. The story revolves around the protagonist, Irene Redfield's, encounters with Clare Kendry. Irene and Clare are both of mixed ancestry, and as a result have very fair complexions. Clare uses this to escape what she perceives as the"burden" of being a part of the African-American community so that she can advance socially. "You can't know, 'Rene, how, whan I used to go over to the south side, I used almost to hate all of you. You had all the things I wanted and never had had. It made me all the more determined to get them, and others" (26). After not seeing Clare for years, Irene inadvertently runs into her. Irene eventually discovers how Clare chose to ignore her Black heritage, and even married a white man who assumes Clare is white. Following an awkward experience with Clare and her husband, Irene returned home, under the assumption that Clare would never again be a part of her life. This holds true until a letter from Clare leads to Clare making habitual visits to see Irene and her family and accompanying them to parties whenever she can escape her husband's grasp. This eventually propels Irene to becoming conflicted between her jealousy of Irene and her loyalty to her race and family. Larsen convincingly depicts this crisis existing within Irene by using such stirring language that the reader is full of curiosity and fear as to the possibilities awaiting Irene. The suspense Larsen produces in her writing forces you to keep reading to find out what will happen next. "And if things were taken out of her hands-Even if she was only alarmed, only suspected that such a thing was about to occur, anything might happen. Anything" (108). Within this fascinating story are issues such as racism and sexism which profoundly affected women of the Black bourgeoisie. Larsen tackles these issues so effectively because being of mixed ancestry herself, she too confronted the problems facing Irene and Clare. So in creating a character like Irene, Larsen adroitly displays the conflict facing her. "For the first time she suffered and rebelled because she was unable to disregard the burden of race. It was, she cried silently, enough to suffer as a woman, an individual, on one's own account, without having to suffer for the race as well" (98). In addition to addressing the pressures facing Black Women in particular, Larsen also examines the effects of race as a whole. Through the different conflicts taking place in Passing, Larsen shows how race is at the core of all emotions and actions. Throughout Clare and Irene's encounters, the one bond that can never be broken is their racial ties. "She had to Clare Kendry a duty. She was bound to her by those very ties of race, which, for all her repudiation of them, Clare had been unable to completely sever" (52). Larsen creates a story which despite its thin appearance, is full with large and small issues alike. Passing is a monumental novel which still applies to the issues that affect us today. Although the conclusion is rather vague and unclear, it is this author's opinion that the conclusion only adds to the experience of reading and interpreting Passing for yourself. Larsen confronts many substantial issues while using such potent language that everyone can find joy in discovering Passing for themselves.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A view of the past, December 22, 2004
Written in 1929, PASSING is a product of the Harlem Renaissance. Nella Larsen, a biracial woman, relates the story of Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry. Both are fair skinned black women who can pass for white and grow up together in a black neighborhood. When Clare is orphaned she moves with white relatives and deserts her black heritage. She sees it as the only means of escape from the poverty that she destest. She marries John Bellows, escaping her past and could have disappeared into the white world.
But through a chance meeting, where Irene is also passing for white, they meet after many years of separation. Irene has married a black doctor, who wants to move to Brazil and in effect pass as a latin American. He wants physically out of America while Irene wants out of the racial tensions of America.
Clare is drawn back to her racial roots by some mystery. She can't let go even though she knows it will be the end of her marriage and perhaps the loss of her daughter.
Clare's husband, John Bellows, is a avowed racist who calls Clare "Nig" because he jokes that she is getting darker, totally unaware of her race. Irene and another friend who is also passing endure Bellow's racist remarks but do not respond.
The book takes place over about a 2 year period as Clare flirts with the danger of discovery and also Irene's husband. Irene is in conflict as to whether to reveal the truth to John, which would get Clare out of her life. But she can't bring herself to do it.
The book tells of the conflict of being black and living white; it tells of the interracial circles of Harlem of the 1920's. It's a period of high racial tensions, but yet whites flock to Harlem because some see it as in vogue not because they seek an interracial culture.
Although Irene lives black, she has created a white world around herself. She doesn't want her sons to know about lynchings and racial issues.
At the end Clare makes a tragic choice. She chooses death over admitting that she is black. Of course, maybe that is what she wanted all the time - out of this false world. Irene gets her wish, she gets Clare out of her immediate life but she will never get her out of her memory.
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