Difference between revisions of "328 2010--Week 8 Questions/Comments"
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I remember reading this scene from "Passing" back when my high school class covered the novel, and I was very intrigued by the notion of passing and the possible reasons for it. The story Clare gives for her own experience in passing in this section seems to be one of convenience and opportunity (raised by white aunts that did not advertise her background), deception (she manipulates her husband to run away with her before her aunts could reveal she was black), and a lot of yearning (she seems to resent her aunt's treatment of her and other white people, which makes her passing as a white person ironic). --Sarah Smethurst | I remember reading this scene from "Passing" back when my high school class covered the novel, and I was very intrigued by the notion of passing and the possible reasons for it. The story Clare gives for her own experience in passing in this section seems to be one of convenience and opportunity (raised by white aunts that did not advertise her background), deception (she manipulates her husband to run away with her before her aunts could reveal she was black), and a lot of yearning (she seems to resent her aunt's treatment of her and other white people, which makes her passing as a white person ironic). --Sarah Smethurst | ||
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| + | I agree with Sarah about how intriguing this passage was. After reading this excerpt, I think that Nella Larsen's topic was something that had crossed the minds of many African Americans at the time. The idea of "passing" into another life, just to experience the other side, was something that I'm sure, African American men and women all had imagined at some point. It was sad though, how Clare had to hide her race, at the request of her aunts. It was interesting to me that although she lived with her aunts, she was still expected to "doing all the housework, and most of the washing." (P. 140) In the story, Clare even says that she had "Negro blood" and apparently that is why she did all the housework, and it was almost expected of her because of her race. The Harlem Renaissance gave Nella Larsen a way to voice this imaginative idea, to maybe give the rest of the world the idea that African Americans merely wanted to be like everyone else, and she portrayed this by showing how important "passing" was for Clare. -- Alex M. | ||
