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영어

This study examines Nella Larsen’s Passing (1929) as one of the modernistic texts written by African American writers during the Harlem Renaissance. Though influenced by modernism as introduced by white Americans, black writers nevertheless wanted to establish their own literary achievements as differentiated from those of their Caucasian counterparts. The Harlem Renaissance made this possible by encouraging black writers through promotion of their racial pride and identity. Produced at the peak of this significant literary movement, Larsen’s Passing deals with a multifaceted culture in which the concepts of race, sex, and class are intricately intertwined. In the midst of the white discourse on these concepts, Larsen endeavored to create a novel taken from the perspective of a black woman who physically embodies all of the elements that define one’s identity. The novel not only forces us to reconsider the conflicts and desires of African Americans who pass as whites, but also debunks the white discourse on race and sex. Larsen is especially concerned with the conflicts and inner struggles that the growing black middle class experiences, as well as the changes that occur in black women’s social status. Her characters bring to life their diverse takes on the issue of passing in relation to race, sex, and class. Ultimately, Larsen demonstrates that African Americans’ loss of ‘blackness’ through self-negation for the pursuit of white standards and ideology would bring about psychic disorder and disruption.