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Clare has forgone her black identity to live among white people as a white person. Clare lies to her husband, John, who believes she is completely white, and who is openly racist around her. At the beginning of the book, Clare seems to think that her lifestyle, in which her black identity is totally erased, is better than Irene’s.
- Humor
Everyone except John knows that he as he spews his hate, he...
- Beauty and Race
Beauty is very important to the characters in Passing, whom...
- Motherhood, Security, and Freedom
Moreover, Clare often resents her role as a mother, as...
- Theodore (Ted)
Clare Kendry is Irene ’s childhood acquaintance and John...
- Irene Redfield
Irene Redfield is Clare ’s childhood acquaintance, Brian ’s...
- Plot Summary
John recognizes Irene from their meeting in Chicago and says...
- Masks
At several points throughout the novel, Larsen describes...
- Doorways, Windows, Thresholds
All Characters Clare Kendry / Bellew Irene Redfield Brian...
- Humor
Liza, Zulena, and Sadie. The maids of Irene’s household. They are described as dark-skinned, a reminder of the colorism even in well-to-do Harlem. Next section Irene Redfield. A list of all the characters in Passing. Passing characters include: Irene Redfield, Clare Kendry, Brian Redfield, Jack Bellew.
John/Jack Bellew. John or Jack Bellew is Clare ’s husband. John, like Clare, is charming and sociable. He is also a white man and a virulent, violent racist. John does not know that Clare has black ancestry, and he frequently uses racial slurs around her and even to address her. When John meets Gertrude and Irene the first time at a tea party ...
Irene Redfield is an African-American woman whose lighter skin tone allows her to “pass” for white. She only does so occasionally, however, as she feels a strong allegiance to the African-American community and dislikes those who pass for white on a more permanent basis. Irene is married to Brian, a doctor, and left her life on the south ...
Summary: Part One: Chapter One. New York, October 1927. Irene Redfield receives a letter from Clare Kendry, a childhood friend. Irene recalls that when Clare was a girl, she used to get paid to run errands for a dressmaker who lived on the top floor of the building where her father was a janitor.
Nov 12, 2021 · November 12, 2021 3:19 PM EST. I n Passing, the film adaptation of Nella Larsen’s seminal 1929 novel of the same name, two women reckon with who they are and how they identify. Although both are ...
Summary. Analysis. In Irene ’s flashback to “that time in Chicago,” she remembers the day being very hot. Irene is shopping for souvenirs for her two boys, Brian Junior (referred to throughout the book as Junior) and Theodore (Ted). Irene buys Junior a mechanical plane, but has trouble finding the drawing book that Ted had asked for.
