...Larsen's second novel Passing on the other hand concentrates on the issue of skin color. As we can see from our own experiences, everyone is not the same shade. Many people of color were affected by this both dark- and light-skinned especially during Nella Larsen's era. While the light-skinned black people were dominating the black establishments, the dark-skinned black people were feeling rejection from their own kind. Passing addresses this issue through the character of Clare Kendry who was also an atrractive light skin fine haired women who manages to escape poverty by passing for being a white women. She marries a wealthy white man who also believes that she is white as well. Her journey across the color line is completely sucessful until she reunites with her old friend Irene. Irene Redfield is married to an attractive and sucessful black physician who Clare finds herself attracted to and he to her, so Clare decides to pursue him. Irene was aware of Clare's threat to her marriage and arranges for Clare's disappearence. Clare falls to her death from an open window just before her husband is about to confront her with his discovery of her black roots. Passing can be related more to Nella Larsen's actual life; she was also a light-skinned women who dominated the black intellectual etablishments and because of her color could have and may have at some points in her life passed for a white woman. I don't think Nella Larsen wanted to cease being black and become white, but she wanted...
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...There are different studies about passing and why people choose to do it. Some researchers say that it is fear, other say that is opportunistic, and Professor Allyson Hobbs thinks otherwise. “I'm not as interested in what people gained by being white, but rather in what they lost by not being black…To understand passing we can't just look at the story of the person who passed, we have to look at their whole social world, because everyone is going to be impacted."(Sloan). Whether it is fear, opportunities, or inquiring minds about what it feels like to be White it is still a problem in the society. Social values and social norms make African Americans feel like they are not good enough. We have to change society in order to make African Americans...
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...it assists them in knowing who they truly are. It is not a surprise when we read novels with exciting and exhilarating characters that their complex situations lead to confused and unstable lifestyles. Exploring the life of Helga Crane in Nella Larson’s Quicksand and Clare Kendry in Larson’s Passing illustrates the issues the two protagonists face when the tone of their skin became a matter of focus and the results their decisions create. Both novels most likely are Nella Larson’s personal quest in a life of searching for acceptance. As an African American novelist during the Harlem Renaissance, Nella Larsen completed these two novels along with a few short stories. It is apparent that her stories dramatize situations Larsen faced during her actual lifetime. Her father, Peter Walker, was a West Indian man who died when Larsen was a young girl. Her mother, Marie Hanson Walker went on to marry a white man, Peter Larsen, which eventually began some internal racial issues for Nella. Nella struggled finding that sense of comfort and acceptance from her family and peers. Being raised in a lower- middle class white household, she felt like a black child that did not belong. Her newfound white family did not accept her and her black relatives also failed to accept her as they enrolled the young, future novelist into Fisk University to broaden her education and send her far away from them as well (Mainwright). Larsen spent her entire life with a sensation that there was more out there...
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...As the readers know, Nella Larsen’s Passing took an abrupt ending. It left the audience in an array and struggling to figure out the “5-W’s”. Who pushed Clare or who let her jump? What lead to the peak of this tragedy? Did this happen when Irene blacked out? How did this happen? However, obvious reasons reveal the why of this tragedy. From my interpretation and evaluation, I have come to the conclusion that Irene pushed Clare out of the window. Irene despised that Clare was successful in passing, had such a dominating influence on her, and Irene believed she committed adultery with her husband. All of which gives motive for Irene to murder Clare. Clare was determined to have a progressive life as a white woman. She was the definition of a successful Negro who thrived through passing. Unlike Irene, Clare was married to a white man and disguised herself as white their entire marriage. She was able to pass as white with and without her husband. As for Irene, she married a Negro man, and was not fortunate to experience passing with her husband. Irene also had black sons, and had to live with the constant fact that her children would endure discrimination because of their skin color. Not only was Irene jealous of Clare’s...
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...of William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 12 When I do count the clock that tells the time, And see the brave day sunk in hideous night; When I behold the violet past prime, And sable curls all silver'd o'er with white; When lofty trees I see barren of leaves Which erst from heat did canopy the herd, And summer's green all girded up in sheaves Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard, Then of thy beauty do I question make, That thou among the wastes of time must go, Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake And die as fast as they see others grow; And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defence Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence. William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 12 is written in an iambic pentameter in the Shakespearean format. It is a contemplation of one’s progression of life and the absolute emergence of ones death, with an ultimate purpose to convey the answer of an individual receiving eternal life. The sonnet is a short narration of definitive mortality that focuses on the passing of time through metaphoric images of nature and through the description of ones youth evolving into the dreaded phase of old age. It is a brief description of the passing of time here on earth. It showcases the passing of time in three quatrains: the end of youth, the end of the harvest season, and the end of ones life. The poem emphasized the importance of procreation and bearing children for one to continue the cycle of life and...
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...You Ken Tan Christopher Hennessy LI 208 U.S. Multicultural Literature 26 Feb 2013 Passing: An Analysis and Close reading Nella Larsen’s Passing is a story about the tragedy of an African American woman, Clare Kendry, who tried to “pass” in the white American community. However, while she passes as white, she constantly seeks comfort from her friend Irene Redfield who is a representation of the African American community. Gradually, Clare has become the double image of Irene, due to the similarities of their ethnicity and the contrasting lives they lead. At the end of the story, Clare’s death is a result of the extreme burden on Irene’s shoulder due to the presence of Clare in her life. The death of Clare is very much Irene’s responsibility based upon her suspicious acts at the end of the story. The ending of Passing, and of the life of Clare Kendry, begins on the sixth floor of an apartment complex at a party in the home of Felise and Dave Freeland. During the party, Irene says that, “It seems dreadfully warm in here. Mind if I open this window?” (Larsen 110) However, when Irene opens the window, “It had stopped snowing some two or three hours back” (Larsen 110). This means that the weather is still rather cold and despite the freezing temperature, Irene still sits beside the window. Another reason why Irene would want to open the window is because she wants to smoke her cigar. She politely uses the warm temperature in the room as her excuse to open the window. Although...
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...Racial Passing is the act in which an individual of one race chooses to actively participate in another race, as a result of the political, economic and social benefits. However the act of “passing” is often a result of self- loathing, the dissatisfaction with self, in relation to societal ideals. In the novel The Bluest Eye written by Toni Morrison, the topic of racial passing is widely explored through the theme of self- loathing. In the text Morrison portrays the human condition through the contrasting views of protagonist Pecola Breedlove and her foil Claudia Mac Teer. Morrison uses various literary elements within the text to convey her take on the ideals of racial passing, such as symbolism, imagery, and point of view. In the text...
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...his idealized expectations. Through his son, he notices his childhood paradise has been altered and realizes the passing of his youth. In “Once More to the Lake” E.B. White’s descriptive visual imagery reflects both the continuity and changes of his childhood retreat. Through an assortment of vivid images, White paints the lake the “same as he left it" in nostalgic and reverence. With phrases such as “hills that the sun set behind” and the “cool and motionless” lake, White establishes a portrait of the beauty of an unchanging nature. His metaphor of comparing the lake to the “stillness of a cathedral” arrested time in his childhood utopia. The writer is convinced that “there had been no years [passed]” when he takes his son fishing, similar to how his father did. When he lowered the tip of his fishing rod “into the water, tentatively, pensively dislodging the fly, which darted two feet away, poised,” White asserts that “everything was as it always been, that the years were a mirage.” However, as White begins comparing his memories to his experience of revisiting the lake with his son, he confronts multiple changes. For example, walking with his son through the “teeming, dusty field,” White notices “the middle track was missing.” The absence of the “marks of hooves and the splotches of dried flaky manure” represents a memory the writer can no longer relive. White is also sentimental about the changes in transportation, missing the “long ten-mile haul” on a wagon and “catching...
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...biological traits, but on the individual’s innate choice to proudly accept their roots and who they truly are (O’Neal Parker). Pinky Johnson is a strong character who chooses to pass as white at first, but then not only regrets her decision, but also refuses to pass ever again (Pinky). She doesn’t make this decision just because she must accept the social view that she is black, but because she feels that by embracing her community she can lead a more meaningful life (Pinky). Pinky Johnson is originally from the south where she was always curtailed due to her race. Hence, her grandmother decides to send her to Boston where she would be able to get a better education and more opportunities (Pinky). While in Boston, Pinky begins to call herself Patricia, educates herself to be a professional nurse, and begins to live a life as a high class northern girl (Pinky). Elia Kazan, the director of Pinky, portrays the character of Pinky as a woman of mixed race whose ‘white’ features are so distinct that nobody would even guess that she has African American blood unless they were actually told that (Pinky). The only other way of knowing about her heritage was through her grandmother, Dicey Johnson, who is distinctly black. Elia Kazan perfectly portrays this in the scene where the two cops mistake Pinky to be white and come to help her because they think that Jake is molesting her (Pinky). At first they are very protective and respectful of Pinky, but the moment she tells them that she is actually...
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...of their environment while men committing crime is assumed to be driven by personal motivations. Female judges do not show leniency towards subjects of their gender groups. The experience of female judges makes them arrive at an appropriate conclusion than their male counterparts. According to Peresie (2005) sentencing decisions made by African-American, White and Hispanic judges vary since a white judge passing a ruling to a Hispanic offender is likely to provide a lengthy jail time to a Hispanic offender due to the racial profiling. The case remains the same to the African-American judges when passing the ruling for white offenders and leniency to their races. Racial disparity in sentencing has been there for a long time in the U.S criminal justice system. The key findings are that young Latino and Black male offenders receive higher trail penalty compared to the Whites (Kansal, 2005). The evidence of discrimination is more prevalent at the federal level than at the state level resulting to Blacks and Latinos receiving harsher rulings. Employment, marital and educational status should not be a factor when passing sentences. Offenders are equal regarding the...
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...designs of filters(Elliptical, Chebychev, Inverse Chebychev, Butterworth and Bessel) and changing the filter types (Lowpass, Highpass, Bandpass, Bandstop). The second objective which is seen in problem 2 is to generate a pulse with uniform white noise, passing it through a median type filter. Theoretical Part 1: In problem 1 we have a case structure for the 4 different types of filters. Those four types ( Lowpass, Highpass, Bandpass, Bandstop) require nearly the same input, changing slightly. the inputs are filter design, filter type, impulse response, high and low frequencies, the order of the filter, sampling rate and the attenuation and ripples in those filters that need those inputs. At the output of the case structure, we are transforming the signal into a Fourier transform and passing it through an array subset, multiplying with a logarithm of base 10, passing it through a bundle to finally be displayed on the waveform graph. All this is put inside a while loop with a 50 ms wait. Theoretical Part 2: In problem 2 we are inserting a certain number of samples into a pulse VI as well as a uniform white noise VI, while specifying some characteristics like width and delay and noise level. After we add the pulse to the uniform white noise we apply one side of the signal into a build array and another side into a median filter that also fills into the same build array to be finally seen on a waveform graph Simulation and Analysis Part 1: In problem 1 we can change the...
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...Biracial Identities within the African American and White Communities Black enough, white enough, light or dark enough are just a few aspects to a biracial individual’s physical perception. For many with one ethic background, understanding who and what they are tends to be reflections of the expectations that are held by society. Those who carry a dual ethnic background have dealt with many expectations of identification not only by society but by standards upheld culturally as well as a parental influence in regards to exposure to both ethnicities. From early interactions of blacks and whites, a slave master and his slaves operated with a purpose to erase blacks from society and purify the American race. These actions transitioned the views of biracial individuals into a focus of passing through society as color was essential and being too dark was detrimental. Historically, self identification and association with specific ethnic backgrounds were dismissed to fit society’s standards causing one to identify as more white than black. Passing through the early 20th century became an important component to a person deriving from the African American and White communities. Jim Crow laws and other governmental provisions denied many African Americans opportunities in everyday life because of their darker skin causing a huge jump for those who were biracial; black and white to take advantage of their light skin to “pass” in order to get through society. Light bright skin just...
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...Section 2: Signals, Signs and Pavement Markings Traffic signals, signs and pavement markings are used for traffic control to provide a smooth, orderly flow of traffic. It is important to understand and obey them. It is illegal to avoid these traffic controls by cutting through a parking lot or field. In this section you’ll learn about: Traffic signals Obey all signs and signals unless directed by a police officer; always follow the officer’s direction. Traffic signs Traffic Signals Pavement markings Traffic signals apply to drivers, motorcycle riders, bicyclists, moped-riders and pedestrians. Painted curbs Red light: At a red light, come to a complete stop at the stop line or, if there is no stop line, before entering the intersection or before reaching the crosswalk. Remain stopped as long as the signal is red, unless turns are allowed. Right turn on red: You may turn right while the traffic signal displays a red light. Before turning, you must come to a complete stop. Look both ways and yield the right-of-way to pedestrians and other traffic. Be sure to check for less visible vehicles such as motorcycles, bicycles and mopeds. You may not turn right on red if signs are posted at the intersection that read “No Turn on Red,” or if a red arrow pointing to the right is displayed. Left turn on red: You may turn left at a red light if you are on a one-way street and turning left onto another one-way street while the traffic signal displays a red light. Before turning, you...
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...The choices we make often define not only our character, but our future. We exhibit these careless behaviors and get caught in the aftermath. In Nella Larson’s Passing, Clare loses her life due to the choices she has made, as in Toni Morrison’s Home, Cee prospers in hers. While each character makes bad decisions initially, it is the way they handle the aftermath of the situation that defines them as people. The end of Passing has Clare Kendry’s body on the street after mysteriously tumbling out a window, following her husband discovering she is not white. Clare was a rebel in her finest moments. She was black, yet did everything she could to become white and successfully did so for some time. Once deciding she was bored of being white and longed for a feeling of familiarity, she attempted to...
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...African American while both of his grandfathers were white. Though he self identified as African American, he often referred to an extensive white ancestry and claimed that the issues of his mixed race had a profound impact on him as a young man. Themes of complex heritage and racial identity would be characteristic of Chesnutt's writing in his novel, "The House Behind the Cedars", as well as his other work. The overriding theme in "The House Behind the Cedars", written by Charles W. Chesnutt, is the problem or deception that comes with "passing" or posing as a white person and its consequences on both African Americans and whites in the South. The book places a strong emphasis on color, class, and alienation. Lost and recovered identity are also present in this book as I believe a type of double-consciousness. Each character in "The House Behind the Cedars" seems to have a "sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness, - an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder." (Du Bois 694) As a child, the light-skinned John decides that he is more white than black and, therefore, has the right to enjoy all of the privileges of a white man. When John Walden was just a boy he had a...
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