New Leaf February 2018 Discussion • Passing by Nella Larsen

[gmw]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

I believe the time period and location is critical to understanding this book. In the US, we study this era in school both in history as well as reading literary works. At least we did in my high school.

Here are a few articles you may find interesting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlem_Renaissance
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_...ican_American)

Thanks, Bookworm_Girl.

I was really thinking about the language and the way of thinking. (The difficulties associated with passing don't seem tied to Harlem of the 1920s.) But after reading those articles I see more of the importance of the setting on the characters.

By the mid-to-late 1920s we're well into the Harlem Renaissance, and this must make it a fairly optimistic time for Negroes in Harlem. The Wikipedia article says "Often Harlem intellectuals, while proclaiming a new racial consciousness, resorted to mimicry of their white counterparts by adopting their clothing, sophisticated manners and etiquette."

We are shown Irene leading an affluent life that (at least initially) seems hard to distinguish from what we might expect of a white woman of those times, and she has no need to pass for white, except on minor occasions as a matter of convenience. How easy it must be for Irene to look down on Clare, who gave up so much to get what Irene has achieved with no sacrifice at all.

But the Renaissance has only been going since 1918, it wasn't happening when Clare made her decision to pass as white and break free of her old life. When Clare meets her old friends she gets to see that Harlem has become a place of opportunity. How could Clare not be jealous that Irene should be handed this at no personal cost? Why shouldn't Clare think it's her right to take what she has already paid for?


Understanding the setting doesn't make me like the main protagonists any more than before, but I think I have a better understanding of their behaviour and it makes the story feel a little less artificial.

Which isn't to say the whole book is now clear and unambiguous, but at least some parts are less obscure than they were. Thank you.

[Bookpossum]

Yes, thanks from me too Bookworm_Girl - two very interesting and illuminating articles.

I made a note while reading when a date was mentioned. The main part of the story was in 1927, therefore making the first section in Chicago 1925 So Irene's and Clare's ways had parted in 1913 when Clare went to live with her great-aunts.

gmw, you asked me if I liked Clare any better on my second reading. Well, I don't think so, but then we see everything, including Clare and her behaviour from Irene's point of view, so it's hard to say. We do know certain things about her: the awful beginning of her life, the great-aunts taking her in but treating her like a servant (or so Clare's said, but it seems plausible), the chance to escape that life. A life of comfort with John Bellew in terms of money and clothes, but always on a knife edge should he find out she was not what she seemed to be.

Another point which was mentioned but then not revisited, was that the man she was with when she and Irene met in the Drayton Hotel was not her husband. We don't know who he was or whether this relationship was perfectly innocent or not, but it could have sown the seed of suspicion about Clare's fidelity to her husband in Irene's mind.

I suppose behaviour in Clare which I don't like is the way she pushes in to Irene's life when not invited, that is, turning up at the house after writing the letter to which she had not received a reply. There is a sense that she did indeed have a "having" nature - she was determined to get what she wanted and didn't consider the feelings of others. Which in turn does make it believable that in envying Irene's life, she should insinuate herself into it, to the extent of starting an affair with Brian.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

I have just reread the book as a refresher - one of the benefits of its being short! A few thoughts that have arisen from doing this with knowledge of the arc of the story:

- The first encounter between the two women took place at Irene's table "just in front of a long window whose gently moving curtains suggested a cool breeze." I hadn't remembered that when I came to the ending in front of another long window.

Good catch.

- The climactic scene: on rereading, I now think that Irene did push, or at least offbalance Clare. It also seemed to be premeditated, with the opening of the window, and the earlier thought to herself about Clare's death being a solution to her problem. She wasn't to know that Bellew would turn up and make a scene, but she was preparing a possible way of getting rid of Clare permanently by an apparent accident. "Irene finished her cigarette and threw it out, watching the tiny spark drop slowly down to the white ground below." And in the same way, she would extinguish the spark of Clare's life, though she told herself it was an accident.

I've been wondering if in fact, Irene set things in motion with Bellew, also; whether Irene had sent Jack a note putting him on the trail, orchestrating his arrival at the party. A factor that seemed unlikely to me otherwise was that the servants would tell an enraged white man where the Redfields had gone. But when I reread the text, that seemed unlikely, as Irene had essentially decided to wait things out until March. So then I thought that Clare might have been the agent and I think that might be likely. March was a deadline for her, also, and she would have wanted to get things moving if she were to jump ship, as it were. She seemed pleased and not shocked or afraid when Jack showed up at the party. She also could have given the servants the nod, "If my husband shows up, tell him where he can find me." The warring ends of Irene and Clare result in a win for Irene as the scenario plays out.

In any case, I don't see how Jack could have located the Redfields' home so readily without some aid, but perhaps it's like the unlikely meeting and recognition downtown, a necessary plot point it's best not to examine too closely.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

The first encounter between the two women took place at Irene's table "just in front of a long window whose gently moving curtains suggested a cool breeze." I hadn't remembered that when I came to the ending in front of another long window.

That's a very interesting foreshadowing of what was to come. Didn't notice it on my read through.

Originally Posted by issybird

I've been wondering if in fact, Irene set things in motion with Bellew, also; whether Irene had sent Jack a note putting him on the trail, orchestrating his arrival at the party. A factor that seemed unlikely to me otherwise was that the servants would tell an enraged white man where the Redfields had gone. But when I reread the text, that seemed unlikely, as Irene had essentially decided to wait things out until March. So then I thought that Clare might have been the agent and I think that might be likely. March was a deadline for her, also, and she would have wanted to get things moving if she were to jump ship, as it were. She seemed pleased and not shocked or afraid when Jack showed up at the party. She also could have given the servants the nod, "If my husband shows up, tell him where he can find me." The warring ends of Irene and Clare result in a win for Irene as the scenario plays out.

I had wondered quite how he found them. Interesting theory, and one I could go along with. Clare was becoming increasingly reckless towards the end, and might just have done something like that to bring things to a head.

[Bookpossum]

Yes, it does make sense that Clare might have left some clues about her whereabouts. She had thought through what she would do if he found out, and planned to move to live in Harlem - an alarming prospect for Irene.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

Yes, it does make sense that Clare might have left some clues about her whereabouts. She had thought through what she would do if he found out, and planned to move to live in Harlem - an alarming prospect for Irene.

I don't think the author was overly concerned with these sorts of details, any more than she worried about how exactly a woman could be pushed to her death in a room full of people, or how Jack could have recognized Irene in the street. I think we just need to suspend disbelief now and then.

[CRussel]

I don't remember where the quote is, and don't have the book in front of me right now, but my DW reminded me last night that she was sure Claire jumped because she had said she always had a final escape.

[Bookpossum]

Yes, it certainly sounded like suicide when she just said "Yes", but Clare clarified by saying "I'd do what I want to do more than anything else right now. I'd come up here to live. Harlem, I mean. Then I'd be able to do as I please, when I please."

It was the possibility of that which pushed Irene over the brink. It's near the end, when Irene is still getting ready to go to the party.

[issybird]

I thought there was a notable omission in Passing of the role that skin color, specifically paleness, played within the black community. The ball, with its mingled skin tones, represented an ideal that didn't in fact obtain. I thought this Wikipedia article about the Brown Paper Bag Test was illuminating.

It makes one wonder to what extent Brian's desire to escape a racist society had to do with treatment by racist whites and to what extent to his resentment at the stature given to lighter skins by his fellow blacks. Irene's willingness to pass for convenience, perhaps Brian's increased stature through having a "whiter" wife, would be indicative of further strains within their marriage. One son could pass (and would thus qualify for more privileges with blacks); the other could not. It's easy to understand that Irene wouldn't want to upstakes and relocate to Brazil, but what an element of that she didn't want to give up her privileges as a pale-skinned black to live in a society where that didn't count?

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by issybird

I thought there was a notable omission in Passing of the role that skin color, specifically paleness, played within the black community. The ball, with its mingled skin tones, represented an ideal that didn't in fact obtain. I thought this Wikipedia article about the Brown Paper Bag Test was illuminating.

It makes one wonder to what extent Brian's desire to escape a racist society had to do with treatment by racist whites and to what extent to his resentment at the stature given to lighter skins by his fellow blacks. Irene's willingness to pass for convenience, perhaps Brian's increased stature through having a "whiter" wife, would be indicative of further strains within their marriage. One son could pass (and would thus qualify for more privileges with blacks); the other could not. It's easy to understand that Irene wouldn't want to upstakes and relocate to Brazil, but what an element of that she didn't want to give up her privileges as a pale-skinned black to live in a society where that didn't count?

Is there any indication that shades of skin color would not have mattered in Brazil? I didn't get the impression that Brazil was anything Brian really knew about; it seemed to be part of a fantasy that he could run away from his current life rather than something he would ever do.

Brian seems to be as much of a racist as Jack; it makes me wonder why he chooses two light-skinned women. Unless he chooses them largely because they're light-skinned.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Is there any indication that shades of skin color would not have mattered in Brazil? I didn't get the impression that Brazil was anything Brian really knew about; it seemed to be part of a fantasy that he could run away from his current life rather than something he would ever do.

I agree with this. I think Irene who had many reasons for not wanting to emigrate could have included Brian's rationale as fact without examining it, but it would have been another reason she wouldn't have wanted to live there.

Brian seems to be as much of a racist as Jack; it makes me wonder why he chooses two light-skinned women. Unless he chooses them largely because they're light-skinned.

I suspect he did; that their status as light-skinned would reflect well on him, also. In any case, it could be seen as an indication that he had internalized the prejudices in favor of lighter-skinned blacks. There might even have been a eugenics factor and that it was a disappointment to him that one of his sons wasn't light enough to pass.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by issybird

I suspect he did; that their status as light-skinned would reflect well on him, also. In any case, it could be seen as an indication that he had internalized the prejudices in favor of lighter-skinned blacks. There might even have been a eugenics factor and that it was a disappointment to him that one of his sons wasn't light enough to pass.

I tend to think that Brian's reason was more of an "F-you" to white society--racism wouldn't allow him to have a relationship with a white woman, so he angrily edged as close as he could to that social barrier by choosing light-skinned women. Of course, that wouldn't rule out the other reasons you mention.

[Bookpossum]

Thanks for the link issybird - I shall read that with interest.

I thought that one of the attractions of Brazil for Brian would be his acceptance as a doctor for people other than poor blacks. Early in the book he says something about hating his job, spending all day with poor people in their tenements. It surprised me as I would have expected his dedication as a doctor to mean he would want to help such people, but he clearly preferred being in the high society of Harlem. They had a nice house and a car, so he must have been well paid.

He was a bit of an enigma all round.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

Thanks for the link issybird - I shall read that with interest.

I thought that one of the attractions of Brazil for Brian would be his acceptance as a doctor for people other than poor blacks. Early in the book he says something about hating his job, spending all day with poor people in their tenements. It surprised me as I would have expected his dedication as a doctor to mean he would want to help such people, but he clearly preferred being in the high society of Harlem. They had a nice house and a car, so he must have been well paid.

He was a bit of an enigma all round.

How would doctoring poor blacks in tenements pay well enough to support his upper-class lifestyle? It seems like this is another instance of the author not bothering about details--there doesn't seem to be any reason to withhold the information.

[Bookpossum]

Yes, it didn’t seem to fit. Still, maybe he had another job as well, in a hospital or wherever.