Nella larsen passing sparknotes

Throughout Passing , Larsen's characters think about social and cultural questions in largely racial terms. Clare, for instance, is motivated to rejoin a black social circle that is fundamentally separate from the white world she knows. Her sense of racial disorientation--first as a black woman passing as white, then as a participant in white society who wants to reconnect with her roots--propels much of the novel's tension and conflict.

Yet racial issues play out in different ways for the other characters. While Irene is mostly satisfied with her place in Harlem's black society, her husband, Brian, finds that a sound and supportive ethnic community is not enough to bring him fulfillment. Passing gives considerable attention to the marriage dynamics existing within the Redfield and Bellew households.

For Irene, Clare, and many of their peers--Gertrude, Hugh, and even minor characters such as Felise--marriage appears to offer a source of security and partnership. Yet as Larsen's narrative progresses, the seeming stability that marriage initially offers is exposed as deeply problematic. Irene's marriage is strained by the possibility of an affair between Clare and Brian--and by Brian's lingering discontent--while the marriage between Clare and John Bellew is driven to the point of crisis by a very different factor: Clare's hidden ethnic identity.

Passing nella larsen quotes

The central relationship in Passing --namely, the connection between Clare and Irene--makes friendship one of the central themes in Larsen's narrative. Nonetheless, the conception of friendship that is present in the novel is complex and even problematic. At times, the "friendship" between Clare and Irene seems completely asymmetric, since Clare consistently and eagerly reaches out while Irene, in contrast, resolves to keep Clare at a distance.