Passing is the novel's title and most obviously refers to someone who is African American pretending to be white; this is the most obvious reference because the characters in the novel use this term frequently when describing this act. However, passing is the main theme of the novel because when we consider it to mean pretending to be someone you are not, it can also refer to sexuality or class. Numerous characters in this novel 'pass' in various ways. 'Passing,' becomes the main conflict for the novel's main character, Irene.
Detailed analysis of the Themes follows in the Overall Analysis Section.
Somber. The mood of this novel is generally somber because it treats a series of serious issues including racial discrimination, sexuality, class, and death. While the reader may sometimes find the seemingly petty concerns of a well-to-do woman trivial, Larsen subtly and carefully entrenches the real threat of racial violence throughout.
Nella Larsen was born on April 13, 1891 in Chicago. She was mixed race, like the characters in her books: her mother was Danish and her father was West Indian. Larsen spent some time in Denmark when she was younger. In the United States, she briefly attended Fisk University, although she did not graduate. Later, Larsen became a nurse and worked at the Tuskegee Institute, but later left to become a librarian.
In 1919, Larsen married and moved to Harlem, where she worked as a librarian and began to write short stories, publishing Freedom and The Wrong Man in 1926. Although she did not publish much, her work has been very influential. Her first novel was Quicksand, published in 1928, followed by Passing in 1929. In 1930, she published her final short story, Sanctuary. Nella Larsen died on March 30, 1964.
This story takes place in 1925 and 1927 in Chicago and New York City (specifically Harlem).At this time, there was a great influx of African Americans into the North from the South beginning around 1910 or so. This diaspora is referred to as the 'Great Migration' and was propelled by job opportunities in northern cities as well as a desire to escape the perils of the Jim Crow South. For many African Americans, a fresh start in the North also meant an opportunity to 'pass,' that is, to pretend they were white. While Clare does not move from the South, her life as a white woman only really begins after she leaves home and is, thus, similar to what many blacks might have experienced at this time. However, Larsen also demonstrates how life in the North was not free of racism. Clearly, Irene and Clare benefit in ways that characters like Brian (Irene's husband) do not, due to their light skin color.
An important event that takes place in this novel, as well as historically, is the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was the explosion of both artistic and social thought by intellectuals and artists living in Harlem from the late 1910s through the 1930s, although it continued to make an impact much, much later. The Harlem Renaissance affected African-American culture throughout the United States, but particularly throughout the urban North. Although many influential artists and intellectuals were involved, some of the most well-known are: W.E.B. DuBois, Langston Hughes, Nella Larsen, Zora Neale Hurston, Eugene O'Neil, Paul Robeson, Countee Cullen, and Arna Bontemps. It is against this backdrop that the New York part of this story takes place. Irene and Hugh Wentworth are good examples of individuals who were invested in this culture. Because of the progressive racial views this community held, someone like Clare could easily attend functions without having to explain her race: black and whites socialized with one another. Irene and Brian engage in a conversation about race theory on pages 55 and 56, which is probably something other people in Harlem were also discussing in this period. They comment that even though they reject the notion of 'passing,' they feel the need to protect those who do it, as an instinct of racial survival. Brian half jokes that the white man has the same instinct for racial survival, which is why he leaves bastard children all over the place.
Fiction. Sub-genre: Novel of Passing.
Lahey, Laurie. "TheBestNotes on Passing".
TheBestNotes.com.
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