Friday, April 22, 2011

Passing

While reading Caucasia, I remembered a novel I read a few semesters ago, Passing by Nella Larson. The novel was based in the 1920s and explained, amongst many other things, the search for identity for biracial people. In Larson's book, those who "passed" and identified themselves as white were often looked down upon by their African American friends. But, those who didn't pass, were often discriminated by whites. It was a lose-lose situation. Moreover, the females in the book had trouble idenitfying where they fit in socially. The main charatcer reunited with a friend who "passed". While she was with this friend she felt obligated to "pass" as well. While the main character was with her African American friends, she was proudly black. I thought it was very interesting that the woman who did "pass" was a bit shameful of this at times. I know times have changed entirely from the 1920s but we can see traces of this today where society pressures individuals to identify as white or black.

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