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Title: Passing (Norton Critical Editions)
ISBN: 0393979164
Author:
Nella Larsen
Publicate Date: 2007-09-19
Publish: 2007-09-19
List Price: $11.25
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $10.12
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $9.49
Amazon Merchant Price: $10.12
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| Customer Review: |
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1: On time as expected (as usual).
As always, I got the book within a week of ordering it. Great book for doing research.
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2: Passing
This is a story of two African American women who are able to pass as caucasian in the 1920s. A look at both sides of this issue. The ending is very interesting.
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3: Interesting subject matter
I had to read this book for an American Women Writers class in college. It was a very interesting read. I enjoyed the subject matter and history. It was something with which I was not very familiar. A good movie that covers this same topic of "passing" is the Human Stain -- very good movie.
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4: good price, good product
very good price for book....for something that costs fifty cents, you'd think it would be in poor condition, but I believe that it was brand new and in perfect condition
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5: A view of the past
Written in 1929, PASSING is a product of the Harlem Renaissance. Nella Larsen, a biracial woman, relates the story of Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry. Both are fair skinned black women who can pass for white and grow up together in a black neighborhood. When Clare is orphaned she moves with white relatives and deserts her black heritage. She sees it as the only means of escape from the poverty that she destest. She marries John Bellows, escaping her past and could have disappeared into the white world.
But through a chance meeting, where Irene is also passing for white, they meet after many years of separation. Irene has married a black doctor, who wants to move to Brazil and in effect pass as a latin American. He wants physically out of America while Irene wants out of the racial tensions of America.
Clare is drawn back to her racial roots by some mystery. She can't let go even though she knows it will be the end of her marriage and perhaps the loss of her daughter.
Clare's husband, John Bellows, is a avowed racist who calls Clare "Nig" because he jokes that she is getting darker, totally unaware of her race. Irene and another friend who is also passing endure Bellow's racist remarks but do not respond.
The book takes place over about a 2 year period as Clare flirts with the danger of discovery and also Irene's husband. Irene is in conflict as to whether to reveal the truth to John, which would get Clare out of her life. But she can't bring herself to do it.
The book tells of the conflict of being black and living white; it tells of the interracial circles of Harlem of the 1920's. It's a period of high racial tensions, but yet whites flock to Harlem because some see it as in vogue not because they seek an interracial culture.
Although Irene lives black, she has created a white world around herself. She doesn't want her sons to know about lynchings and racial issues.
At the end Clare makes a tragic choice. She chooses death over admitting that she is black. Of course, maybe that is what she wanted all the time - out of this false world. Irene gets her wish, she gets Clare out of her immediate life but she will never get her out of her memory.
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