Presentation of Disability in the Novel “Passing” by Nella Larsen

Reading Responses for Novel “Passing” by Nella Larsen
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Summary of Text
Passing by Nella Larsen revolves around Irene, an African, passing herself off as white to avoid the disability status attached to black Americans in her society. She is married to a black physician, Brain, and lives in New York with their two sons. Unlike Irene, Brain is not light-skinned and thereby unable to manipulate his identity. He yearns to move his entire family to a country having less racial prejudice, while Irene insists that they belong to New York. On her visit to Chicago, Irene meets another light-skinned black woman Clare pretentiously maintaining her identity as white, married to a white racist man John Bellew. Clare joins Irene’s charity to allow white and black people to mingle and show solidarity. As the plot progresses, Irene suspects Clare of having an affair with Brain. One day, Bellew tracks down Clare as she participates in an event held by Irene’s charity and flares up. As he presumably reaches the point of divorcing Clare for her calm response to his fury, Clare falls from the window to her death. The reason for her fall remains ambiguous though it was suggested to be a push by Irene, who feared that Clare would have the license to come closer to her husband after getting divorced.
Presentation of Disability in the Novel
In the novel, blackness is shown to be a sign of disability status. Each black character in the novel is shown to be intensely concerned about their role and position in society. Certain characters count on a hypocritic approach and pass themselves as white to avoid disability status. The title “passing” itself symbolizes and remains a motif of an escape from a disability that is likely to challenge people’s acceptance as normal beings otherwise.
An active symbol to present such escape is “mask,” which also qualifies as a motif for its repeated presence throughout the novel to describe the character of Clare. For example, while describing Irene at one stage, Larsen remarks, “what was now an ivory mask lurked a scornful amusement” (36). Here, mask stands for the privilege of having as light-skinned as a black African, allowing Irene and Clare to play as whites.
Other important symbols used in this context are doorways and windows where the characters are shown to be standing. For example, at one stage, Irene thinks of Clare’s unopened letter as “This, she reflected, was of a piece with all that she knew of Clare Kendry. Stepping always on the edge of danger. Always aware, but not drawing back or turning aside” (4). The doorways symbolize the essence of liminality and confusion. Clare and Irene’s identities are on the borderline. Their pretense is an escape from the disability. Their preference to stay between both (actual and pretended identity) offers a glimpse of the disability stigma attached to blackness in the novel.
Presentation of Disability in the Novel and Static Notion of Black People
Passing characterizes the irony and satirical questioning of traditional wide-hel...