Passing by Nella Larsen: Review

 

Passing by Nella Larsen was a fantastic novella that I felt, captured the reality of ‘Passing’; the idea of a person, most often one of colour passing into (again, most often) white society as white. As anticipated from the title, this is the entire theme of the book, and Larsen writes beautiful characters that give the reader an emotive insight into the effect of race relations on everyday people in 1920s America. One thing that particularly struck me in this book was the amount of similarities it holds to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (TGG). Many times while reading Passing I couldn’t help making connections to TGG. The main character meeting a rich, neurotic character, the class divide between the protagonist and the wealthier secondary character, the fact that both books are written from the view of the protagonist but is essentially about a different character whom they both admire and detest and most importantly the untimely but expected death of said character. Usually I would find a book that mimics another book rather insipid and unimaginative, but I found Passing just as charming as I found The Great Gatsby to read.

The protagonist Irene or “‘Rene” as she is rather condescendingly called by Claire, as I have stated has many parallels with Nick Carraway (in TGG) in the way that they are both narrating the events of another’s life. Where Nick speaks of how Gatsby wishes to get Daisy’s attention in TGG, Claire spends her entire rekindled relationship with Irene trying to get back into black society and make connections with the old friends that she left behind to blend into white high society. In particular this is a theme that I thoroughly enjoyed through the book. Irene’s detestation of Claire is prevalent through her attempts to distance herself from her, despite Claire’s constant attempts to befriend her.

As I have previously stated this book was rather obvious in the direction the plot was going from the outset. The use of Claire’s husband, who isn’t aware of her race, was a rather humorous addition to the book that is written by Larsen in such a splendid way and made the reader feel as though they were in on the secret with Irene. Though Claire’s husband eventually finding out about her racial heritage was anticipated, it was still a treat to read and see the confrontation unfold. In particular the mystery surrounding Claire’s death was particularly fascinating, as we the reader are seeing the story unfold through Irene’s eyes we, just like Irene are unsure whether Irene pushes her or Claire herself jumps. To me, this deaths scene was extremely reminiscent of Jay Gatsby’s death and I thought that in this case, unlike in TGG, there is a heavier undercurrent of social tension, that is race divides in America. The death of Claire in many ways, I believe symbolised the death of or more precisely the impossibility of the idea of ‘passing’. I believe that the character of Claire was intended to shed light on both the societal laws that shackled Jim Crow era America and the position that many people were faced with; to pass or not to pass.

I further found that the leading female characters were astonishingly perfect. Claire is the perfect amount of both insipid and pitiable, while Irene is a steadfast but also a stuck-in-her-ways woman. The dichotomy between these characters really expressed for me the variation of people that found themselves trying to navigate through the barriers that Jim Crow America erected for people of colour, regardless of the degree of ‘blackness’.

I thoroughly enjoyed Passing, I would recommend this book to everyone. I think its an evocative piece that sheds light on real issues in a palatable way. I especially feel like this is a good book for anyone who wishes to understand experiences of those in Jim Crow America and especially the experiences of women of colour.