Returning to "Passing" Part Three

In class I learned that it wasn't that the author of the critique essay thought she was right, it was just that she was saying that those were possibilities.  There are many points of view that literature can uncover.  If this author thought envelopes were sex symbols and that the characters (Irene and Claire) had the hots for each other, that's her option.

I still think that lit critics take stuff too far.  But that's part of the job.  I thought we were taking things too far in class too, with the cartoon and Taylor Swift picture.  I don't think most people would have looked at that comic strip and seen anything sexist.  But only most.  We can't say how EVERYONE will view things, so people should be cautious in what they print if they don't want to make people angry at them.  As for the Taylor Swift picture, all celebrity photos are sexy, but I don't know one person stupid enough to believe that if they drink milk they can look like Taylor Swift.  So let them run ads like that.  If people are stupid enough to believe that, then they probably cannot read anyway, and are therefore safe.

All of this is about people seeing things that aren't there.  People see what they want to see, because of what is inside them.  If people are going to see what they want to see anyway, then it doesn't matter what is printed.  If someone is a hardcore feminist, they are going to see sexism in EVERYTHING.  The same goes with everything.  But people don't have to walk around on egg shells for everyone else, because this is America and we can say what we want.

I have been thinking about the ending of "Passing" and have come to the conclusion that while he would never admit it, Jack was clearly heartbroken by his wife's death.  I think that the death was oddly an unsaid mutual decision between Claire and Irene.  Irene was angry enough to want her dead, and Claire was depressed enough by Jack finding her out that she wanted to die.  I'm going to say she jumped just as Irene was pushing her.  But maybe I'm critiquing things that aren't there and seeing what I want to see.


Until next time,

Keri Jo