Summary and analysis - Essay Example

What does the critic claim about Passing? In her critique of the book Passing by the celebrated Harlem Renaissance author Nella Larsen, Miriam Thaggert portrays the book as a great novel that effectively captures the themes that the author wishes to raise with a remarkable efficiency. She looks at the novel from different characters perspectives and identifies weighty thematic matters developed in the same. She is however not amused by authors style and character development where both the protagonist and antagonist possess strikingly similar traits.

She is of the view that the plot is complicated by the fact that the dual figures of the main characters mirror each other in innumerable ways. However, she admits that the dual figures develop the themes of class and gender, and aid in the opening of spaces for the generating identities. The critic tends to argue that both Clare and Irene ideally followed the same path in that both attempted to establish a distinct racial identity since both are fair skinned and face a myriad of problems in the highly racially polar 20th Century American society.

While the author partially depicts Clare as the villain, Thaggert begs to differ. She suggests that in the racial hierarchy where the white were placed at then peak, Clare had a harder task to fit in the white society than her friend-turned- foe had to fit in the black society. She also appreciates the pressure from her guardians that clearly pushed her toward adopting the white race. The critic in a way cautions the reader against coming to the conclusion that Clare and Irenes husband are having an affair since, even though the there are many indicators to the fact, there are equally many cues suggesting the contrary.

She is of the view that it is the height of unfairness to take sides in an issue that the author leaves open and in which the possibilities of the real state of affairs are unlimited.Thaggert then classifies the novel as a classical tragic mulatto, one of the most common figures of early African-American literature that immediately developed after the American Civil War.While the critics analysis may not fully hold to some, there are tangible evidences that support her views. It is a fact that the characters are similar in many ways.

Both are of mixed racial parentage. Both establish identities different from their original ones. Both admire the others racial identity when they meet again. Both face similar gender and family issues.Her view on the complication of the plot is equally true. At the end of the story, the reader is unable to conclude if Clare and Irenes husband had an affair. The reader cannot establish if Clares death was an accident or a homicide. This ambiguity leaves the reader at a loss on which side to take.

The essay is written in clear and precise voice where the critic does not shy away from expressing her views, however controversial. It takes a deep delve into the novel and puts into focus which may remain concealed at first reading. It attempts to look at the issues from all the characters points of view. Further, it concludes that the issues facing persons of mixed parentage in this period in the American history were essentially the same and the background of upbringing did little to differentiate between the adult lives of those concerned.

Works cited Larsen, Nella. Passing. 1929. Ed. Thaggert, M. Norton Critical Edition. New York: Norton, 2010.