Nella Larsen's Passing
The Harlem Renaissance was a turning point for many African Americans. A vast amount of literature was created specifically for this group during this era. It was a period when the African American "was in vogue" and "white thinkers and writers were devoting a considerable amount of attention" to them (Taylor 91, 90). For the first time, African Americans were being told that it was okay to be proud of who they were. This new consciousness and self-awareness was prominent in many works of literate, but several writers began exploring the darker side of this movement with literature that concentrated on the negative aspects of race relations in America. Nella Larsen's novel Passing concentrates on this theme with the story of Clare, a tragic mulatto who "passes" as a white person. Not only is Passing representative of the plight of the "tragic mulatto", it is also a novel that explores the complexities of human relationships.
Clare Kendry's life is a perfect example of the plight of the "tragic mulatto." This is a conventional "character who 'passes' [as a white person] and then reveals pangs of anguish resulting from forsaking his or her black identity" (Tate 142). In Passing, Clare "seems to have one overriding urge: to return to the [African American] world she left" (Davis 98). However, once she does return back to the African American community, her story leads to a tragic ending.
Clare's desire to return to her African American heritage is obvious. She tells her childhood friend Irene Redfield that "she can't know how in this pale life of mine I am all the time seeing the bright pictures of that other that I once thought I was glad to be free of…It's like an ache, a pain tha...
... middle of paper ...
...erature. Iowa: University of Iowa Press, 1989.
Ravitz, Abe. Rev. of Passing, by Nella Larsen. Masterpieces of Women's Literature. New York: Salem Press, 1996. 393 -- 96.
Sato, Hiroko. "Under the Harlem Shadow: A Study of Jessie Fauset and Nella Larsen." The Harlem Renaissance Remembered. Ed. Arna Bontemps. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1972. 63 -- 89.
Singh, Amritjit. The Novels of the Harlem Renaissance. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Press, 1976.
Tate, Claudia. "Nella Larsen's Passing: A Problem of Interpretation." Black American Literature Forum 14 (1980): 142-46.
Taylor, Patricia. "Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance." The Harlem Renaissance Remembered. Ed. Bontemps, Arna. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1972. 90-102.
Washington, Mary Helen. "Nella Larsen: Mystery Woman of the Harlem Renaissance." Ms. 6 Dec. 1980: 44+.
Originally referred to as the “New Negro Movement”, the Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement during the early twentieth century. It was started by the Great Migration of blacks to the North during World War I. This period resulted in many people coming forth and contributing their talents to the world, inspiring many. One of the poets of this time, Jessie Redmon Fauset, was one of those who wrote about the life of blacks and life in general during this time period. She used her good and bad past experiences as influences for her works.
Clare’s character has a very unique touch to it. Her childish yet innocent behaviour is shown throughout the short story, however her character itself shows us the love between her and her father thus it is highlighted ...
"Harlem Renaissance". Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 20 Apr. 2014
Kellner, Bruce, ed. The Harlem Renaissance: A Historical Dictionary for the Era. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1984
Clare longs to be part of the black community again and throughout the book tries to integrate herself back into it while remaining part of white society. Although her mother is black, Clare has managed to pass as a white woman and gain the privileges that being a person of white skin color attains in her society. However whenever Clare is amongst black people, she has a sense of freedom she does not feel when within the white community. She feels a sense of community with them and feels integrated rather than isolated. When Clare visits Irene she mentions, “For I am lonely, so lonely… cannot help to be with you again, as I have never longed for anything before; you can’t know how in this pale life of mine I am all the time seeing the bright pictures of that other that I o...
Hill, Laban Carrick. Harlem Stomp!: A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance. New York: Little, Brown, 2003. Print.
Tragic mulatto characters such as Clare transport unforeseen horrors when they make the selfish decision to reinsert themselves back into the world they so desperately desired to flee. Larsen makes this point clear through the diction she uses when describing the self-esteem destruction Irene undergoes once Clare has reinserted herself into Irene's life, and the situations Irene finds herself as a direct result of Clare. Prior to Clare’s reentrance into her life Irene is a self-assured, independent, and confident woman; however, she soon turns self-conscious, dependent, and hesitant. Upon viewing Clare at the hotel Irene is struck by Clare’s ...
The Harlem Renaissance gave African American women new opportunities in literature. “The Harlem Renaissance was the name given to the cultural, social, and artistic explosion that took place in Harlem between the end of World War 1 and the middle of the 1930s.” (Wormser) It was a challenge for women poets during the Harlem Renaissance because they were both black and women. (Walton) Jessie Fauset, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Regina Anderson, and Nella Larson all played important roles in the Harlem Renaissance. (Lewis) These women inspired many generations of women to come. (Walton)
Clare uses it to her advantage to marry a rich white man and has a mixed daughter as a result. After a while though, Clare has had enough of her white passing and decides to come back to her original race. Clare’s decisions do not bode well for her though, as her husband discovers her true racial identity. This discovery proves deadly for Clare, as she falls out of a window when he confront her. (Larsen 79). Clare’s decision to pass affected her entire life, not just her story arc with Irene. Her coming back to her roots after passing for so long shows that race cannot be chosen. Clare never felt white, she only used it for personal gain. Her real race called back to her, and made her miss her real heritage. “It was hard to believe that even Clare Kendry would permit this ridiculing of her race by an outsider”(Larsen 28). Even Irene is surprised to see her husband allow her race to be ridiculed, hinting that Clare most definitely identifies with her real
Born in Texas, on July 8th, 1902, Gwendolyn Bennett had always been interested and passionate for writing and art. Bennett was the child of two educators, who taught on a Native American reserve in Nevada, but was kidnapped by her father once her parents divorced and her mother was awarded custody. She then settled in Brooklyn where she became the first African-American member of the Girl’s High School’s theatre and literature student organizations. Bennett was highly successful at her school; she was awarded first place in a school-wide art competition, wrote a play and acted in it, while writing her class graduation speech and song. She blossomed alongside the Harlem Renaissance, becoming of age as the Harlem Renaissance gained traction.
3. Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 51: Afro-American Writers from the Harlem Renaissance to 1940. A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book. Edited by Trudier Harris, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Gale Group, 1987. pp. 133-145.
The Harlem Renaissance refers to a prolific period of unique works of African-American expression from about the end of World War I to the beginning of the Great Depression. Although it is most commonly associated with the literary works produced during those years, the Harlem Renaissance was much more than a literary movement; similarly, it was not simply a reaction against and criticism of racism. The Harlem Renaissance inspired, cultivated, and, most importantly, legitimated the very idea of an African-American cultural consciousness. Concerned with a wide range of issues and possessing different interpretations and solutions of these issues affecting the Black population, the writers, artists, performers and musicians of the Harlem Renaissance had one important commonality: "they dealt with Black life from a Black perspective." This included the use of Black folklore in fiction, the use of African-inspired iconography in visual arts, and the introduction of jazz to the North.[i] In order to fully understand the lasting legacies of the Harlem Renaissance, it is important to examine the key events that led to its beginnings as well as the diversity of influences that flourished during its time.
Harlem Renaissance (1997-2007) Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007. Retrieved October 7, 2007 from Web site: http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761566483/Harlem_Renaissance.html/
Jones, Sharon. Rereading the Harlem Renaissance: Race, Class, and Gender in the Fiction of Jessie Fauset, Zora Neale Hurston, and Dorothy West. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2002.
Hughes, Langston. "Harlem." [1951] Literature. 5th ed. Eds. James H. Pickering and Jeffery D. Hoeper. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice, 1027-28.