MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - New Leaf February 2018 Discussion • Passing by Nella Larsen

fantasyfan · 02-16-2018, 07:19 AM

I noticed that Irene makes a reference to the “Rhinelander”case. I knew nothing about this and while checking it out I came across a fascinating article from The African American Review by Rebeca Nisetich that argues that the case is one of the major influences on Passing.

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/550302

“Reading Race in Nella Larsen’s Passing and The Rhinelander Case” (pp345-361)
Rebecca Nisetich

The Rhinelander Case of 1925 is mentioned only once near the end of the novel. The millionaire, Leonard Rhinelander had married Alice Beatrice Jones against the wishes of his family as she came from a lower socioeconomic class and at first it was seen as a “Cinderella” story.

Then Leonard found out that Alice had one black grandparent. He attempted to have the marriage annulled on the grounds of “racial fraud”. His argument was that he never would have married Alice had he known that the fact of her ancestry. The trial became a sensation and Alice won on the basis that her “race was visibly apparent” and that Leonard must have known what he was doing. The basic idea of the verdict implies that racial identity is based on physically visible factors and “denies the existence of a middle ground between racial absolutes.” But Nisetich believes that the novel challenges the absolutist approach that assumes “the visibility of race and the conception of racial identity as intimately connected to one’s essential self.”(p. 345)

This focuses a problem of identity in the Twenties: that is how “ to categorise racially ambiguous individuals.” We can see the problem in Alice’s own family. One sister of Alice married a black man and the marriage certificate lists both as black. Her other sister married an Italian and their marriage certificate lists both as white. (p. 349)

Nisetich devotes five pages of her seventeen page article to the background of the case because she believes that the trial resonates throughout the themes of the novel.

Clare, like Alice, comes from a poor background and marries a wealthy white man. She refuses to accept the validity of the assumption, held by Irene, that racial identity must necessarily be determined by physical factors. Clare attempts to live free of such shackles and her tragic failure is caused by the refusal of society, her husband, and even Irene to allow her to do so.
Throughout the main sections of the article, Nisetich points out that “the Rhinelander verdict denied The complexities of identity, affiliation, and allegiance which had enabled Alice to see herself as ‘white’. (p. 350) The novel clearly “dramatises” these complexities through the ways the various characters “read” racial signifiers on to the bodies of women who are of mixed race and there is a considerable amount of excellent analysis in the article supporting this view.

Rebecca Nisetich concludes as follows:

“Together, Passing and the Rhinelander case demonstrate the irrationality of forcing people to conform to superficial and binary notions of racial identity.”

Personally, I found her arguments very telling and it is worth reading the article in its entirety. The web address I give above will only give the abstract and the first page. Since The AAR is a very reputable journal, I suspect that a full copy would be easy to obtain from a library and possibly a PDF download as well.

02-16-2018, 07:19 AM	#44
fantasyfan Wizard Posts: 1,376 Karma: 28116892 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Ireland Device: Kindle Oasis 3, iPad 9th gen. IPhone 11	I noticed that Irene makes a reference to the “Rhinelander”case. I knew nothing about this and while checking it out I came across a fascinating article from The African American Review by Rebeca Nisetich that argues that the case is one of the major influences on Passing. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/550302 “Reading Race in Nella Larsen’s Passing and The Rhinelander Case” (pp345-361) Rebecca Nisetich The Rhinelander Case of 1925 is mentioned only once near the end of the novel. The millionaire, Leonard Rhinelander had married Alice Beatrice Jones against the wishes of his family as she came from a lower socioeconomic class and at first it was seen as a “Cinderella” story. Then Leonard found out that Alice had one black grandparent. He attempted to have the marriage annulled on the grounds of “racial fraud”. His argument was that he never would have married Alice had he known that the fact of her ancestry. The trial became a sensation and Alice won on the basis that her “race was visibly apparent” and that Leonard must have known what he was doing. The basic idea of the verdict implies that racial identity is based on physically visible factors and “denies the existence of a middle ground between racial absolutes.” But Nisetich believes that the novel challenges the absolutist approach that assumes “the visibility of race and the conception of racial identity as intimately connected to one’s essential self.”(p. 345) This focuses a problem of identity in the Twenties: that is how “ to categorise racially ambiguous individuals.” We can see the problem in Alice’s own family. One sister of Alice married a black man and the marriage certificate lists both as black. Her other sister married an Italian and their marriage certificate lists both as white. (p. 349) Nisetich devotes five pages of her seventeen page article to the background of the case because she believes that the trial resonates throughout the themes of the novel. Clare, like Alice, comes from a poor background and marries a wealthy white man. She refuses to accept the validity of the assumption, held by Irene, that racial identity must necessarily be determined by physical factors. Clare attempts to live free of such shackles and her tragic failure is caused by the refusal of society, her husband, and even Irene to allow her to do so. Throughout the main sections of the article, Nisetich points out that “the Rhinelander verdict denied The complexities of identity, affiliation, and allegiance which had enabled Alice to see herself as ‘white’. (p. 350) The novel clearly “dramatises” these complexities through the ways the various characters “read” racial signifiers on to the bodies of women who are of mixed race and there is a considerable amount of excellent analysis in the article supporting this view. Rebecca Nisetich concludes as follows: “Together, Passing and the Rhinelander case demonstrate the irrationality of forcing people to conform to superficial and binary notions of racial identity.” Personally, I found her arguments very telling and it is worth reading the article in its entirety. The web address I give above will only give the abstract and the first page. Since The AAR is a very reputable journal, I suspect that a full copy would be easy to obtain from a library and possibly a PDF download as well.