Issues of race and skin color have been a common theme in American literature especially during years preceding the Civil Rights movement. While a majority of them focused on the struggles of the black minority in a predominantly white society, a few of them have also addressed more complex issues of origin and race, its acceptance and the search for identity with overlaps of issues of sex, gender and class relationships. Written in 1929, Nella Larsen’s second novel Passing is one such – the story of the conflict between two African American friends addresses complex issues of race and identity and touches on many issues that continue to plague the social landscape of the American society.

The title “Passing” signifies the central theme of Larsen’s story. “Passing” implies racial passing – the passing of a people of one race, usually African-American, for another, usually white. Though this might seem an unlikely scenario, the phenomenon of passing has a long history in American culture; Passing was a much-hyped issue during the Harlem Renaissance. While the phenomenon of passing is considered a passé, it continues to exist even today though passing isn’t only limited to black-as–white.

The theme of racial passing is introduced to the reader through the character of Clare Kendry – an attractive light skinned fine haired woman who manages to escape the hardships of blacks by passing as a white women. Her passing across the racial borders is successful to the extent that she marries a wealthy white racist John Bellew, and also manages to hide the truth of her origin from him. The complex and conflicting issues of racial identity surfaces as she meets her old friend Irene Redfield, who is also light skinned African American and married to an attractive and successful black physician, Brian. Clare finds herself attracted to Brian, who reciprocates her as Clare decides to pursue him. Irene, aware of Clare’s threat to her marriage, arranges for Clare’s leaving. Clare’s real “passing” occurs as she falls to her death from an open window just as her racist husband approaches to confront her with his discovery of her black roots. [Larsen, 1986] Thus Larsen also lends the usual, everyday meaning of the word passing to her novel—death.

The need of recognition and the fear of rejection arising from reasons of racial origin are central to the characters of both Clare Kendry and Irene Redfield. While Clare fears her rejection by her husband on knowing the truth of her black origin, Irene also fears rejection from her husband for his liking for Clare. ‘White’ness is seen as a means to gain recognition – Clare ‘passes’ by assuming a white identity, where as Irene tries to “pass’ by adopting white values. If, for the lower class Clare “passing” and shedding off the black identity meant access to material goods, love and emotional comfort, for the middle class Irene’s “passing” is invoked by her desire to stay clear of the violence of her racial past, a desire invoked by Bellew’s definition of ‘nigger’ at the tea party. Yet ultimately she realizes “Surely, no other people were so cursed as Ham's dark children.” [Larsen, 1986; p.225]

Larsen uses the issues of racial identity and racial passing to examine other related and inextricable issues such as gender, sexuality and class rivalry that influence the development of identity and establishing one’s recognition. The novel remarkably, though not explicitly, addresses the marginalization and renunciation of the dark-skinned black people in their own community by the light-skinned black people who dominated the black establishments – the double marginalization of the dark-skinned black people, and more importantly women, in a predominantly white society.