What Is The Passing By Nella Larsen Summary

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In dealing with people of different ethnicity daily one can try to guess what your background would be. People decide based on a person’s skin color, religion, how they speak, and where they come from. While this is wrong to do, it’s just the way people are. For example, just because a person speaks with a Caribbean accent, does not mean they are from Jamaica. There are many countries in the Caribbean, but the dialect is different from region to region. If a person speaks Spanish, does not mean they are Puerto Rican; it just means they are of a Spanish decent. While some can identify a person’s ethnicity by a person’s skin color; it’s not always that easy. Leaves from the Mental Portfolio deals with a young lady whose father is English …show more content…

Two of the women are of a fair complexion and mixed with a different ethnicity. All of the women were friends growing up, but Irene as always, treated differently than the other woman. Clare is married to Jack, who does not know that his wife is of black descendants. Jack often calls Clare “Nig” which Irene found to be very insulting to her and her race. Jack makes a comment to his wife “I know you’re no nigger, so it’s all right”. “No niggers in my family, never have and never will”. (Larsen, 1929). Irene amuses Jack’s ignorance, but knows that his wife is a nigger. Jack believes his wife Clare has the same beliefs, he has but states that she wants to look like them. Jack looked at blacks as devils who rob and kill people. It took all Irene had in her to not let Jack know that he was “surrounded by three black devils, drinking tea”. (Larsen, 1929). Irene could not believe how calm she handled the entire encounter with Jack; but inside all she could feel was anger and shame for Clare. As Irene and Gertrude end the day and leave, they speak amongst themselves. They could not believe how Clare was taking such a risky chance with her husband not knowing her true ethnicity. The women did not know that was has Jack felt about black people and the fact that they did not say anything. Jack was totally clueless. But in the end Clare was happy with her life and believes it’s all worth it in the end. Irene realized that she could not keep thinking about Clare’s situation any longer, it was her own fault for putting herself in the

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