The Uniqueness Of African-American History - Essay Example

African-American History The American novelist, Nella Larsen’s, ‘Passing,’ published in 1929 has attracted multitude of readers. It has often been regarded as a novel that depicted the true state of African American women during the American Reconstruction era. The novel is worth reading as it experimenting on the theme and the content that the readers may not feel it as a mere narration or adaptation of the Reconstruction Era. As it is exposed in the historical records, the Restoration Era was marked with various occurrences which later turned out to be the entire part of American history. Larsen, in her novel attempts to sketch out the Reconstruction Era through the portrayal of the two different, light skinned American African Women, Clare Kendry and Irene Redfield. Clare and Irene were childhood friends who get together after a long time sharing their bitter experiences of being born as Negroes, denied of basic rights, try to find out comfort and consolation each other. Clare and Irene were born in mixed ancestries with light skinned complexion which later adversely affecting the free flow of their life and arise the question of existence in them. The novel raises many questions on various themes like identity crisis, race, lies, sexuality and jealousy. While reading through the novel, the readers understand that the novel obviously reflecting the views of the young African Americans who are wedged with their light skinned complexion and are searching for their lost identity. The era of Reconstruction was notable for the imminent changes it brought out in the perceptions of people, especially their perception to slavery and black people. The novel mainly focuses on the ‘passing’ of the members of one class to that of the other by the illusion that this ‘pass’ will bring tremendous changes to their life and social status. The story of the novel moves on through two female characters—Clare Kendy and Irene Redfield. The novel begins with Irene reading the letter of her childhood friend, Clare. The reading of the letter enables the readers to understand the character of Clare, when Irene recollects thus; “There had been, even in those days, nothing sacrificial in Clare Kendry’s idea of life, no allegiance beyond her own immediate desire (Larsen 2).” These words clearly express the attitude of the African American people who were totally dejected and depressed after the Civil War. Irene adds that Clare was selfish, and cold, and hard. But even then she had kept with her a strange capacity of transforming warmth and passion, verging sometimes almost on theatrical heroics (Larsen 2). The opening of the novel also facilitates a comparative study of the two characters. The reconstruction era brought decisive changes among the African Americans and it is very clear when analyzing the character of the two women in the novel. The comparative study of the two female characters brings out similarities as well as disparities. The considerable similarity between them is that both belong to a mixed ancestry with light skinned complexion. Both feel admiration to other’s boldness and attitude to life and wish to lead a life like the other. Regarding the contrasts, the prominent among them is their approach to ‘passing.’ For Irene, the abandonment of African heritage and leading or following the life style of the white is quite difficult and therefore, she marries a black doctor by keeping herself to her own shell. But for Clare, she would like to ‘pass’ as white and marries a white man to satisfy her keen desire to be known a white. She does not like to revive or reveal her past before anyone and misreads that it would be a disgrace to her personality and social status. However, when it is revealed, Clare feels the acute problem of the lack of identity that torments her completely and the same leads her to death. “In Passing, the metaphor of “passing” again represents the idea of protecting a member of the black race from the dangers posed by “white folks,” though Irene Redfield does not conquer the constraints of class that Annie Poole overcomes. In fact, Irene not only fails to place race above class but also sacrifices gender ties to the comforts of a middle-class lifestyle” (Champion L. & Nelson S. E 185). The character of Clare can aptly compare to the general belief of the African Americans in the Reconstruction Period. An over view of the historical records unveils that to ‘pass’ was a fascination among the African Americans during the 1920s who fall upon the thorns of life and bleed. This suffering can be regarded as ‘tragic mulatto,’ which “stems from the notion that persons of mixed white and black blood must suffer terribly from the contradictoriness of their origins and yearn to be white their entire life” (Radtke 19). It is this attraction that led the African Americans to ‘passing.’ The words of Radtke make it clear when he says, “Passing is oftentimes presented as the solution for this dilemma” (19). Clare’s dilemma has expressed in her letter to Irene when she wrote, “…For I am lonely, so lonely … cannot help longing to be with you again, as I have never longed for anything before; and I have wanted many things in my life… (Larsen 3). Larsen has succeeded in illustrating the true picture of a desperate woman in the Reconstruction period lamenting… ‘pale life of mine.’ It’s is like an ache, a pain that never ceases…” (3). It is the revelation of the light skinned African American that her ‘passing’ will not save her from the burdens that afflicted her entire race. Furthermore, Larsen could state the attitude of the blacks to the whites when blacks believed that the whites were incapable for identifying the light skinned for the whites. The picture of the Reconstruction period is crystal clear when Clair exclaims, “Absurd! Impossible! White people were so stupid about such things for all that they usually asserted that they were able to tell…” (Larsen 8). But towards the end of the novel, the readers identify the fact that even if her white husband comes to know of the reality, Clare could not bear it in her mind for long. Here one can see Clare as becoming a tragic character with her tragic end. The comparison of Clare to cat also can be included among the attempts of the novelist to bring into light the mentality of the African Americans; once a group of depressed and downtrodden people who reacted when they had the right opportunity. Larsen writes, “Catlike…sometimes she was hard and apparently without feeling at all; sometimes she was affectionate and rashly impulsive. And there was about an amazing soft malice, hidden well away until provoked…driven into danger she would fight with ferocity and impetuousness that disregarded or forgot any danger; superior strength, numbers, or other unfavorable circumstances” (Larsen 3). The blacks had kept with them the soft malice against the white folk for being suppressing and overruling them. Majority of them were quite similar to Clare—hard and apparently without feeling at all. One can see the seeds of Reconstruction long before the Civil War ended. Stroud and Schomp makes a clear assessment of the Reconstruction period when they wrote, “As Union forces invaded the South and took over Confederate territories, the federal government had to decide how to govern the occupied lands” (1). One of the very serious issues concerned with the wartime debate was the four million African Americans held as slaves in the South (Stroud & Schomp 1). The complicacy began when the slaves began their fighting for freedom at the arrival of the Union troops. Even the Emancipation proclamation of the then president Lincoln was insufficient for the slaves to satisfy their rights. The African Americans had their own concept of freedom that they claimed for equal political and civil rights in the Reconstructed South. The words of Frederick Douglass clearly proclaim the demand of the people. According to Douglass, “The people… want a reconstruction such as will protect loyal men, black and white, in their persons and property” (Stroud & Schomp 2). Even after the reconstruction, it is observable that the African Americans still had problems in their social life. “During reconstruction, the freed people would struggle to find jobs, build homes, gain an education, and secure their civil rights (Stroud & Schomp ix).” The attempt of the slaves to attain their rights not only changed their lives but also the entire American government and society. During the reconstruction period the slaves had identified that though the period of slavery is over they are still the slaves of the society, leading a life at the mercy of the mob, and have no means of protecting himself (Stroud & Schomp 4). It is after long years of protest from the part of the slaves, president Lincoln agreed their voting right. Analyzing the reconstruction era it is quite evident that this period has marked the turmoil of the African Americans. While reading through the pages of Larsen’s ‘Passing,’ readers are quite certain that the author has prevailed in portraying the suffering of the African Americans during and after the reconstruction period. The reading of the novel leads one to the conclusion that the ‘passing’ of the character, Clare does not bring her any advantage, instead, it spoils her and she becomes a prey of identity crisis. Her life is tormented between her previous identity and the assumed where she identifies that she has no existence except anyone of it. When she loses the two identities, she has no other option, except to prefer death. The novel has exposed the anguish of African American women who lost their identity being mixed ancestry and having light skinned complexion. It is this physical appearance and the downtrodden state of the African American women forced them to ‘pass’ as the members of the white community, where they hoped to build a new life as their own. The novelist brings to light the reality that the woman characters are acting the role of the ‘Tragic Mulatta’ destroying their own life. The novel ends ambiguously when the author presents the death of Clare as ‘falling’ from a window. The novelist leaves the end as a mystery that the readers are not sure whether Clare was jumping from the window or Irene was throwing her off, suspecting Clare’s illegal relation with her husband. Furthermore, the novel has some erotic undertones in the two women’s relationship. To conclude one can infer that the novelist has succeeded in her attempts to depict the state of the reconstruction era through the women characters, Clare and Irene. While reading through the pages, the readers also feel the autobiographical elements of the novelist, who was born in a mixed ancestry— her father was a West Indian of color and mother a Danish immigrant. Works Cited: Larsen, Nella. Passing . Illustrated, Courier Dover Publications, 2004. Print. Radtke, Sandra. Racial Passing: A Comparative Reading of Jessie Fauset’s "Plum Bun" and Nella Larsen’s "Passing" and "Quicksand." GRIN Verlag, 2007. Print. Stroud, Bettye & Schomp, Virginia. The Reconstruction Era, illustrated, Marshall Cavendish, 2006. Print. Champion L. & Nelson S. E. American women writers, 1900-1945: a bio-bibliographical critical sourcebook. Illustrated, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000. Print. Read More