Here is an excerpt from my recent essay on Passing. We were given five prompts to choose from, and I chose to write about Irene’s desire for Clare in relation to race and sexuality. We were given two 45 minute class periods and 20 additional minutes to write our essays, and we were told to begin with a thesis and then jump right into our body paragraphs, no introduction.
Irene’s desire, especially for Clare, relates ideas of race and sexuality to authenticity, and conveys the idea that to be authentic to yourself if to allow yourself to change.
In the beginning of the novel when Irene meets Clare at the Drayton in Chicago, Irene does not recognize her. Once Clare laughs, however, Irene immediately realizes who she is talking to and is quite surprised. She tells Clare “I never would have known you if you hadn’t laughed. You are changed, you know. And yet, in a way, you’re just the same” (19). This introduction to Clare that we get is one of the first mentions of change, specifically in relation to appearances. Clare’s life, as she is someone who is passing as white, is very much intertwined with the concept of concealment and appearances. The fact that Irene only recognizes Clare by her laugh suggests that passing is unnatural, as a laugh is something that isn’t purposefully controlled to sound a certain way, and is simply an authentic bit of yourself that you broadcast to the world. The conclusion that Irene draws in the beginning of this exchange, that Clare is changed yet somehow the same, is seemingly contradictory. However, this contradiction is resolved when one considers the depth of human identity. Clare may have changed in outward appearance, but her inner emotions and character has remained the same. Her eyes are described as “dark” (25), and as eyes are commonly portrayed as a “window into the soul,” this trait of Clares represents that she is still black at her core, and that she is being inauthentic in the act of passing. However, the notion that one simply cannot change their identity and must instead simply live inauthentically is rather pessimistic. A more positive interpretation of this description is that even in changing her appearance, Clare has remained authentic to herself. She has pursued her desires, just as she continues to do in her chasing after a connection with Irene. We see this idea again throughout the novel, as although Clare’s emotions and true feelings are hard to pin down, her “having” nature (21) and disregard for how getting what she wants may negatively impact others (47) is a constant way that Irene describes her. Such a negative trait may seem unattractive, but this is one of the factors that draws Irene to Clare. Irene is also captivated by Clare’s “tempting mouth,” the “soft lustre” of Clare’s “ivory skin,” and her “arresting eyes,” which Irene determines to be the deciding factory which makes Clare’s “loveliness” “absolute” (30). These two aspects of Clare, her “having” nature and her physical beauty are both attractive to Irene, and for the same reason. It seems that Irene desires the mix of races that Clare’s beauty captures, as both her “ivory skin” and, as mentioned before, “dark” eyes, are cited as reasons for Irene’s attraction to Clare. Such a mix is not forbidden, but is, as in Clare’s situation, dangerous and rare. Irene is attracted to the freedom that Clare expresses with this combination of races she achieves through passing. Clare’s “having” nature is merely the emotional cause of this mix, as Clare desired wealth and therefore disregarded even her own safety and married a rich white man, John Bellew, despite the danger inherent in the marriage of a vicious racist and a woman passing as white. Although Irene hates change (58), prefering security and monotony, the words “tempting” and “arresting” used in the description of Clare’s features reveal that Irene may not be being entirely authentic to herself in what she expresses as her desires. The word “tempting” means captivating and available yet coming with perhaps a drawback, and the word “arresting” suggests a lack of control in Irene’s desires, as one’s control is taken when they are arrested. Irene’s attraction to Clare reveals her inescapable desire to be authentic that she is suppressing. Additionally, the homoerotic nature of this scene and Irene’s description of, for example, Clare’s “tempting mouth” highlights that Irene’s attraction to such ideas that Clare represents is perhaps out of line with the norms present in her life, as was homosexuality in society during the time period in which this novel is set, meaning that Clare presents Irene with a view of what her life could look like were the safe and predictable monotony of it to come to an end.
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