After reading the first seventy pages of Passing by Nella Larson, I could not help but think of how similar this book is to The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. The sense of not knowing your true self, as well as, a persistent sense of loneliness is evident throughout both novels. Perhaps it is best portrayed in Passing on page forty-six when Irene is at Clare's house for tea. Surrounded by women who are "passing" to be white, Irene begins to have "...a feeling of being outnumbered, a sense of aloneness, in her adherence to her own class and kind; not merely in the great thing of marriage, but in the whole pattern of her life as well." As the narrator in The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man continuously questions whether he should accept that he is "negro" or simply pass as a white man, Irene begins to question her life as well. Being in the presence of her passing friends, she discovers that she was the only one out of all of them that married a "negro," and had a dark child.
If this book is anything like The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, the questions penetrating Irene's mind will continue throughout the novel. I suppose we will have to wait and see.
4 comments:
I am interested to see how Irene’s struggle with passing (especially her concern for Clare’s situation) has an affect on herself and her family. She seems to question Clare’s style of living often, but I wonder if deep down she is analyzing her own life and thinking of how it could be different. Irene comes off as a strong advocate for her race, but I wonder if she truly feels this way.
I also could relate Passing to The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man. In both of the novels, the main characters are trying to discover who they are and what their race means to them. I think that the concept of race and how it relates to African Americans was a common theme during this time. This idea of passing probably caused a lot of internal struggles with the lighter-skinned African Americans because this presented the issue of living a white lifestyle versus a black lifestyle.
I definately see the similarities between this book and Autobiography of a Coloured Man. I do think Irene is being put in positions that are uncomfortable and making her see both sides of society; the white side and the black side. I don't think she should judge those who are passing for white because she does pass at times. Yes, she married a black man and has a dark son, but that doesn't make it wrong for her "friends" to pass because thats the life they those chose and she chooses that as well.
The more I think about is the more I get the impression that these authors are really critiquing people who pass. It almost seems as if collectively they are calling on African Americans to be true to their race and take pride in it, because they continue to show how passing becomes problematic to ones identity
Post a Comment