Theoretical Interpretations (AO5) Flashcards
What is the ‘tragic mulatto’ stereotype in American literature?
A stereotype where a mixed-race person (of white and black parentage) is portrayed as tragic due to their inability to fit into either the white or black world.
Source: Pilgrim, David, ‘The Tragic Mulatto Myth’, Jim Crow: Museum of Racist Memorabilia, Ferris State University.
What is intersectionality, and how does it apply to Passing?
Intersectionality, developed by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, examines how race, class, gender, and other identities intersect to create unique experiences of oppression.
Application to Passing: **The novel explores how race and class intersect **in the lives of Clare and Irene. Clare’s ability to pass as white grants her socio-economic benefits but comes at psychological costs. Irene’s middle-class status and lighter skin tone reinforce her position within the black bourgeoisie.
Source: Crenshaw, Kimberlé, ‘Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color’, Stanford Law Review, vol. 43, no. 6, 1991.
What does Cheryl A. Wall argue about Passing in her article Passing for What? Aspects of Identity in Nella Larsen’s Novels?
Key Points:
Larsen subverts the tragic mulatto trope to explore the psychological costs of racism and sexism.
Clare’s motives for passing are ambiguous, tied to both race and class.
Irene’s sense of self is constructed through her dismissal of inferiors and jealousy of superiors.
Quotes:
“As they navigate between racial and cultural polarities, Larsen’s protagonists attempt to fashion a sense of self free of both suffocating restrictions of ladyhood and fantasies of the exotic female Other.”
“Clare’s is merely an extreme version of a situation all share.”
Source: Wall, Cheryl A., Black American Literature Forum, vol. 20, no. 1/2, 1986.
What does Charles Lewis argue about Passing in his article Babbled Slander where the Paler Shades Dwell?
Key Points:
Lewis compares Passing to The Great Gatsby, noting similarities in themes of passing and identity.
Both novels feature protagonists who pass (Clare as white, Gatsby as elite) and are observed by narrators with ambivalent feelings.
Lewis suggests Passing can be read as a novel about repressed lesbian desire disguised as a story about racial passing.
Quotes:
“These two short novels offer surprisingly similar portraits of an America whose bright notes of progress and prosperity were dampened by widespread racism and nativism.”
“Nick and Irene are obsessed with passing in part because they also are passing.”
Source:
Lewis, Charles, Literature Interpretation Theory, 18:2, 2007.
Source: Lewis, Charles, Literature Interpretation Theory, 18:2, 2007.
What does Mary Wilson argue about Passing in her article ‘Working Like a Colored Person’?
Key Points:
Wilson focuses on Zulena, Irene’s dark-skinned maid, to explore race, class, and colorism.
Irene’s lighter skin tone and middle-class status are reinforced by her reliance on darker-skinned servants.
Clare’s social mobility challenges Irene’s sense of identity and class.
Quotes:
“Irene does use her white skin at times to escape racism, more often she seeks to stabilize her membership in a specifically black bourgeoisie.”
“Clare and Zulena both simultaneously support and test Irene’s carefully constructed domestic identity.”
Source:
Wilson, Mary, Women’s Studies, 42:8, 2013.
Source: Wilson, Mary, Women’s Studies, 42:8, 2013.
What does Deborah E. McDowell argue about Passing in her introduction to Quicksand and Passing?
Key Points:
McDowell reads Passing as a novel about repressed lesbian desire disguised as a story about racial passing.
Irene’s feelings for Clare are erotically charged, but she projects her desires onto Brian.
The novel’s ambiguous ending reflects Irene’s ultimate act of repression.
Quotes:
“Larsen envelops the subplot of Irene’s developing if unnamed and unacknowledged desire for Clare in the safe and familiar plot of racial passing.”
“Irene’s most glaring delusion concerns her feelings for Clare.”
Source:
McDowell, Deborah E., Quicksand and Passing, Rutgers University Press, 1986.
Source: McDowell, Deborah E., Quicksand and Passing, Rutgers University Press, 1986.
What does Judith Butler argue about Passing in Passing, Queering: Nella Larsen’s Psychoanalytic Challenge?
Butler explores the novel’s themes of racial and sexual passing, focusing on Irene’s repressed desire for Clare.
The novel’s ambiguity, particularly its ending, reflects the unspoken tensions of race and sexuality.
Clare’s daring and Irene’s repression create a dynamic of fascination and condemnation.
Lacanism
Quotes:
“The question of what can and cannot be spoken, what can and cannot be publicly exposed, is raised throughout the text.”
“Clare embodies a certain kind of sexual daring that Irene defends herself against.”
Source:
Butler, Judith, Bodies That Matter, Routledge, 1993.
Source: Butler, Judith, Bodies That Matter, Routledge, 1993.
What does Charles Scruggs argue about Passing in Sexual Desire, Modernity, and Modernism in the Fiction of Nella Larsen and Rudolph Fisher?
Key Points:
Scruggs reads Passing as a detective story that explores Irene’s repressed desires and fears.
Irene’s obsession with Clare reflects her own frustration with her marriage and bourgeois life.
Clare’s risk-taking and social mobility threaten Irene’s sense of security.
Quotes:
“Irene is both attracted to and appalled by Clare’s desire to live on the edge.”
“Irene’s sexuality has been replaced by her desire for safety and ‘security’.”
Source: Scruggs, Charles, The Cambridge Companion to the Harlem Renaissance, 2007.
What are the main theoretical approaches used to analyze Nella Larsen’s work?
Studies in race and class (intersectionality, passing, colorism)
Queer studies (lesbian subtext, repressed desire)
Material approaches (class status, domestic labor)
Source: OCR Teacher Guide (2021)
How does Kimberlé Crenshaw’s concept of intersectionality (1989) apply to Passing?
Shows how race, class, and gender intersect in characters’ experiences. Originally developed to show disadvantages faced by women of color in employment/law, now used for feminist analysis of marginalized identities.
Source: OCR Teacher Guide (2021)
What is Cheryl Wall’s (1986) key argument about Larsen’s use of the ‘tragic mulatto’ trope?
Larsen subverts the convention to ‘demonstrate the psychological costs of racism and sexism.’ Clare’s passing motives are ambiguous, involving both race and class mobility.
Key quote: ‘Each of these characters… relies on a husband for material possessions… Clare’s is merely an extreme version.’ Source: ‘Passing for What?’ (1986)
How does Charles Lewis (2007) compare Passing to The Great Gatsby?
Both feature:
A passer (Clare/Gatsby) observed by an ambivalent narrator (Irene/Nick)
Themes of social mobility and racial/class anxiety
‘Highly charged mix of desire and dread’ in narrative perspective.
Source: ‘Babbled Slander…’ (2007)
What does Mary Wilson (2013) reveal about Irene’s relationship with her maid Zulena?
Shows Irene’s colorism: links Zulena’s dark skin to servitude.
Highlights class tensions in Black bourgeoisie.
‘Irene requires both service to and service from working-class African-Americans’ to maintain status.
Key quote: ‘Zulena’s mahogany skin… legitimizes her domestic labor.’ Source: ‘Working Like a Colored Person’ (2013)
What is Deborah McDowell’s (1986) lesbian reading of Passing?
Argues:
Irene’s desire for Clare is expressed through fire imagery and spatial movement.
Suspicions of Brian/Clare affair are projections of Irene’s own desire.
Novel ‘buries’ lesbian subtext under racial passing plot.
Key quote: ‘Larsen envelops the subplot of Irene’s… desire for Clare in the safe… plot of racial passing.’ Source: Introduction to Quicksand and Passing
How does Judith Butler (1993) analyze the window scene psychoanalytically?
The narrative ‘blanks out’ at Clare’s death, mirroring Irene’s trauma.
Connects earlier symbolic breaks (shattered teacup) to final violence.
Passing and queering both involve destabilizing identity categories.
Key quote: ‘What can and cannot be spoken… is linked with… dangers of public exposure of both color and desire.’ Source: ‘Passing, Queering’
What does Charles Scruggs (2007) say about Irene’s sexuality?
‘It has been replaced by her desire for safety and ‘security’… the most important thing in life.’ Shows tension between bourgeois respectability and repressed desire.
Additional quote: ‘Irene is both attracted to and appalled by Clare’s desire to live on the edge.’ Source: Cambridge Companion to Harlem Renaissance
How does the OCR guide summarize the value of theoretical approaches?
They:
Reveal psychological costs of racism/sexism (Wall)
Expose intersectional oppression (Crenshaw)
Uncover queer subtexts (McDowell/Butler)
Analyze class performance (Wilson)
Note: Multiple approaches often overlap in criticism.
What historical context does the OCR provide about ‘passing’?
Practice of light-skinned Black people presenting as white for socio-economic benefits.
Linked to colorism (term coined by Alice Walker, 1983).
Central to Larsen’s exploration of race/class identity.
Source: OCR Teacher Guide
How does Wall characterize Irene’s class consciousness?
She constructs identity through:
Dismissing ‘inferiors’ like Gertrude.
Jealousy of ‘superiors’.
‘Failing strategies’ to differentiate herself from Clare.
Key quote about Gertrude: ‘Her feelings could not matter.’ Source: ‘Passing for What?’
What does McDowell say about Irene’s cigarette habits?
Symbolize repression - ‘Larsen gives us a character who lights cigarettes only to stub them out,’ paralleling how Irene suppresses then acts on violent impulses toward Clare.
Source: Introduction to Quicksand and Passing
How does Dr. Diniejko (2011) characterize Clare’s defiance of gender norms?
“Many New Woman novels strongly opposed the idea that home is woman’s only proper sphere.”
Theme: Defiance of traditional gender roles. Clare exemplifies the New Woman ideal by rejecting domestic confinement. Her restlessness and desire for Harlem’s vibrancy contrast with her white-passing wife role. Source: Dr. Diniejko (2011)
What does Jonathan Little (2000) argue about Larsen’s use of irony in Passing?
“Larsen, obviously aware of the traditions before her, chooses not to depict such serene returns for her characters… Even after returning back across the color line into the Black community, Clare Kendry finds no peace, rest, loyalty.”
Key Argument: Subverts the “tragic mulatto” trope through ironic commentary on societal expectations. Source: “Nella Larsen’s Passing: Irony and the Critics” (2000)
How does Richard Bernstein (2001) contrast Irene and Clare’s psychological traits?
“Irene’s strength is in her security in identity and Clare’s in her defiance and recklessness, both of which are a source of some anguish to the other.”
Theme: Psychological complexity and mutual anguish. Source: Bernstein (2001)
How does Freud’s “narcissism of small differences” (1929–30) apply to Clare and Irene?
“Minor differences are amplified in relationships marked by shared identity and proximity… Irene’s insistence on distinguishing herself from Clare reflects her need to maintain separateness and superiority.”
Key Concept: Shared identity fuels rivalry and repressed aggression. Source: Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents
What does Thadious M. Davis (1994) argue about passing as emancipatory?
Passing is a “practical, emancipatory option” to transcend the “veil of color caste” (Du Bois).
Theme: Racial passing as strategic freedom. Clare’s infiltration of white spaces challenges rigid racial boundaries. Source: Davis (1994)
How does Jennifer DeVere Brody (1992) describe Clare’s class shifting?
“In shifting her class status, Clare maintains a clear sense of her prior identity.”
Theme: Tension between reinvention and belonging. Clare’s social mobility doesn’t erase her Black identity. Source: Brody (1992)
What literary parallel does Michael Moynihan (2018) draw?
Passing is a “blackened” version of The Great Gatsby, with Clare’s self-construction mirroring Gatsby’s tragic reinvention.
Theme: Literary parallels in identity pursuit. Source: Moynihan (2018)
How does Frantz Fanon (1967) frame Clare’s passing?
Clare embodies “colonized mentality” by internalizing white standards to gain acceptance (Black Skin, White Masks).
Theme: Internalized racism and identity performance. Source: Fanon (1967)
What does Jonathan Little (2000) reveal about Irene’s narration?
“We learn of [Clare] only through Irene, whose increasingly paranoid and unreliable vision… clouds our access to all characters.”
Key Argument: Unreliable narration forces critical engagement. Source: Little (2000)
How does Freud’s concept explain the novel’s climax?
“Small differences fuel aggression… culminating in Irene’s violent action/inaction.”
Analysis: Shared identity magnifies minor divergences into tragedy. Source: Freud (1929–30) via Larsen analysis
