Nella Larsen's Passing
Passing, is an exclusive novel about love, human nature and race. The novel is basically about two childhood friends, Irene and Clare. The difference between the women is that Clare appreciates her race, while Irene does not appreciate being African American. The two have had a strong relationship since they were kids, but the relationship seems to be fading. Irene does not want to be associated with Clare, since Clare is married to a white man, who is bigoted. Clare is African American, but she can be confused to a white woman, whereas Irene light skinned but a little bit darker (Larsen, 20). Even though the novel strongly speaks about love, human nature and race, I think the author concentrated more on one side of the novel. In this essay, I therefore argue, based on the themes provided and the structure of the essay, that the novel is one sided.
The theme of race has dominated in the novel, making it to become the centre of events. The centres the flow of events on the theme of race, in sense that in every event, racism is pointed out. For instance, Irene does not want to be associated with Clare, because she is married of to a white man (Larsen, 22). Colour separates the two friends, since Clare does not want to be associated with white people. In addition, Clare’s husband, John Bellow, does not want anything to do with African Americans, when he arrives at the hotel, he speaks in an impolite way, offending Irene who is African American. I strongly believe that the author should have concentrated more on the theme of human nature and love, since the book may create a sense of racism, particularly if read by a bigoted person.
The theme of human nature has been side-lined, in that they take a less portion of the novel. The theme of human nature has not been clearly depicted in the novel, since the author has concentrated more on race and partly on love. The novel basically speaks about race and love, whenever Clare and Irene meet, the issue seems to be race and love. Irene is afraid of a growing affair between Clare and her husband (Larsen, 27). The theme of human nature is only depicted when Irene meets both Clare and her husband. Moreover, this theme is also depicted when Irene meets with Clare’s husband. Irene gets to meet Clare’s husband only once, at a hotel, when Bellow followed her wife into the hotel.
The novel conveys a message which is racially affiliated, thus making African Americans to seem evil. The author concentrates on the evils committed by African Americans, hence painting a dark picture of them. Clare is an African American woman, but her skin completion is light, making her to look like a white lady (Larsen, 38). Although she is married to a bigoted white man, her husband, Bellow does not know that she is African American. The husband strongly believes that her wife is white, and he does not want her to be associated with African Americans. Furthermore, her husband speaks ill of African American’s when he met Clare together with Clare at the hotel.
Irene feels insecure due to the close relationship between her husband and her friend Clare, making her to push Clare off the window, after realizing that Clare’s husband was likely to divorce her. If Bellow divorced Clare, then Clare was most likely to end up with Brian, Irene’s husband. This move made Irene mad, thus pushing Clare of the window, in order to safeguard her marriage (Larsen, 43). In the two scenarios, the author shows the type of lives which African Americans lead, and shows how they concentrate more on their interests without caring about the interests of other people. The above scenarios have consequently portrayed African American women as being mean, and egocentric. The author consequently seems bias, since she paints a dark picture of African American women. I strongly believe that she should have talked about the positive side of African American woman, before fusing in their negative side.
The structure of the story seems appealing in the beginning, but the flow of events become very predictable as the story continues. For example, the author speaks Clare’s charms, whereby she is able to convince Irene to become friends with her again. Clare is portrayed as a person who is good at convincing, a thing which makes her to easily convince most people to become friends with her (Larsen, 54). When Clare develops a relationship with Irene’s husband, it is very clear that she will be able to convince Irene, thus maintaining their friendship. The story becomes predictable, since Irene maintained her relationship with Clare, knowing very well, that Clare would try to convince her if she confronted Clare. The author consequently fails to make the reader to think critically about what will happen next, making it easier for the reader to become fed up with the story. According to my point, of view, the author should have made the story less predictable, hence making the story eye catching.
Work Cited
Larsen, Nella. Quicksand & Passing. London: Profile Books, 2014. Internet resource.
