"Passing" Part One

Nella Larsen is an African American writer, with West Indian and Danish ancestry as well.  Having grown up tin the 1920's she got to see what "Passing" was all about.  Blacks would pass over the "color line" and choose to live white, leaving behind their black ways, friends and family.  Then some would desperately long for blacks, and miss their old lives.  Some said that the whites didn't know how to have fun like the blacks did.  But it was told that these African Americans were in a dangerous life of self-hating for not wanting to be black.  We should be happy about who we are, and never try to be something we are not, but at the time this was the way things were done.  Larsen had a personal experience of her dad leaving the family, and her mom remarrying a white man.  "Passing" was originally named "Nig" but she changed it because it was too controversial.  The introduction gave a preview of how race comes into play in "Passing" and how no one can really answer the question, "What is race?"

In class we talked about race as being the physical characteristics.  On job applications it will ask for you to mark your race.  They have white, African American, Hispanic, Native American, Asian, etc.  They are pretty broad groups.  During class discussion, I will need to find out why this color line was being crossed because I don't really understand it, and what the class thinks race is after reading this book.

I didn't understand what passing really was from the introduction.  But after reading the first part of this book, I had a sad realization.  They weren't just living white.  People thought they WERE white.  And they were okay with that! They were okay with being called the 'N' word because they didn't want to blow their cover.  How wrong were these people!  Why make yourself feel so much pain and live in a lie?  Claire didn't care that her husband was a racist.  That just seems wrong to me.  Irene had the right idea.  And I think she was the happiest of all the characters because she was being true to herself.  Who cares about money or fame if you can't be YOU.  That reminds me of a lyric from an Avril Lavigne song:

"LA told me, you'll be a rock star, all you have to change, is everything you are"

It's almost like selling your soul.  You are selling yourself out for things that don't even matter.  I know that because of racism and the way blacks were treated that some of them longed to be white, but this is just wrong.  We are all different, we are all unique, and we need to embrace that, not hide from it.  I have a hard time being myself sometimes because I am different that a lot of students here.  I'm more shy, anxious, and awkward, so I sometimes hide and become anti-social rather than letting people know the real me (which is basically a dorky nervous chick).  But this is wrong.  If someone doesn't love you for exactly who you are, then they aren't worth your time.  We deserve better.  We have to love ourselves as God made us.

Until next time,

Keri Jo