In a society dictated and governed by color, the complex identities and relationships of the characters in Nella Larsen’s Passing are not printed in grayscale. In a time when the color of one’s skin determines one’s fate, race, and opportunities, color in Passing is attributed like any other quality. Living in a society where color is all that matters, what enables or prohibits relationships, what connects and divides, the characters in Passing view the picture of race not in aesthetic black and white but rather in vivid Technicolor.
The use of terms such as ‘black’ and ‘white’ in the novel signifies a much more complex separation between the commonly contrasted descriptions of race. For Irene and the narrator of Passing, there are more shades to ‘black’ and various tones of ‘white’. In a world that loves to organize people by colors, Irene’s sketches of race are far more graphic, far more animated. In Irene’s eyes, all characters, whether black or white, have a distinct and personal color.
In Irene’s eyes, all characters, whether black or white, have a distinct and personal color.
Clare’s portrait is the most colorful one in the novel as it is subjected to various points of view. Irene describes her as having “slanting black eyes” and “bright hair” (10), an image that keeps recurring throughout. Her eyes are also “dark, almost black”, and her mouth “like a scarlet flower against the ivory of her skin” (16). Irene also paints her with “pale gold hair”, lips of “geranium-red” and “black lashes” (30). These seem to be Clare’s dominant descriptions, for Irene once again calls her “golden”, with “golden feet” and eyes “sparkling like dark jewels” (75). Other characters’ views of Clare expand her picture: for her husband Jack, she was “as white as a lily” (40) and for Hugh Wentworth she is “the blonde beauty out of the fairy-tale” (77).
Penguin UK.
Irene as a master-painter reveals the plurality, contrasts, and uniqueness of racial identity by distinguishing between complexions even for people of the same race. Bob Kendry, Clare’s father, is described as having a “pasty-white face” (10) yet Clare’s escort at the Drayton was “very red in the face” (15). Jack’s portrayal, on the other hand, includes his “dark brown” hair and “dough-coloured face” (40). In a way, Irene humanizes the distinction between ‘black’ and ‘white’ by personalizing these terms in her description of the characters, all of whom, in one way or another, cannot escape ‘coloring’ and are all attributed a color by her.
The collection of such descriptions reveals that Passing is not only a story of race, class, and desire, but also a story of contrasts.
The rest of the main and even minor characters who appear sporadically in the novel are separately and individually ‘colorized’: Liza has an “ebony face” (33), Brian has “tea-coloured fingers” (57) and skin of a “deep copper colour” (54), Zulena is a “mahogany-coloured creature” (54) and Hugh Wentworth has eyes of “clouded amber” (78). The collection of such descriptions reveals that Passing is not only a story of race, class, and desire, but also a story of contrasts. To use the exact words of Hugh Wentworth when seeing Clare, “fair and golden, like a sunlit day” dancing with the “dark […] like a moonlit night” Ralph Hazelton, Passing provides a “nice study in contrasts” (77); contrasts which are beautiful like “the silver spoon in the white hand slit[ting] the dull gold of the melon” (16), intense like the “brown eyes” returning the stare of the other’s “black ones” (16), ironic like a white man “surrounded by three black devils, drinking tea” (42) and unexplained, mysterious, and outstanding like the “purple ink” (10) against an ordinary pile of letters.
This is fascinating, Konstantina. Thank you.
I wonder how we might extend the notion of Irene as a painter? Is there something we can say about an artistic gaze – does she narrate an artist’s detachment in certain situations? (Or lose it?) Does she “compose” scenes in her description (think about that “I remember” series of vignettes)?
Would you consider her use of color to be impressionistic?
Here’s (a very brief) more on color in impressionism: https://www.liveabout.com/impressionist-techniques-what-colors-are-shadows-2578052
And here’s more on art movements contemporary to Larsen’s novel: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/f/fauvism
(See the “Related Movements and Groups” down the page a bit)
And finally, are colors mostly applied to people/skin tone, or do we see color imagery at other points in the novel?
I love the way you analyzed the text and wrote about the complex and multidimensional layers of ‘colors’ in Passing. I precisely loved the way you spoke about the distinct colors each character embodies, and I can definitely see how race is portrayed as a “vivid technicolor” rather than a simple equation of “black and white،” especially after the examples you noted down. You mention in your post that “Clare’s portrait is the most colorful one in the novel,” which I think resonates with the fluidity of her character or how she can pass as both black and white (fluidity can be very misleading here because it has a positive connotation because it implies that one can easily flow from one thing to another, which in the case of Clare, is not very liberating).
A positive connotation that implies one can *
Konstantina I truly loved how you expanded the colors “black” and “white”. This truly corresponds to Irene’s constant emphasis on descriptions in terms of features and colors.
I feel like those distinctive descriptions that she defines different characters upon could be related to her internal thoughts and opinions about them. For instance, we see her define clare’s skin as “ivory skin” and her hair as ” bright hair”, which shows Irene’s thoughts regarding how clare has it easy in disguising herself as a white woman unlike herself (Irene). Moreover, her description of Brian’s skin as “deep copper color” emphasizes her view on the “deep” and rich beauty of his skin, which strongly relates to how comfortable and confident she is with herself and her race.
Your analysis of the colors is truly fascinating ! amazing work Konstantina.
after reading your post, I couldn’t help but think of how Clare’s name might also allude to ‘clear’, which as you know is the absence of any color. This reflects on her character in the sense that she is never actually a color or the other, she is never black and she is never white. Which is also what seems to make the presence of the other colors you described, apear more vivid in comparison.
furthermore, the “purple ink” that Clare uses in her letters, is particularly significant because it foreshadows Brian’s purple lips (p.119) as he stands near Clare’s dead body in the end of the novel.
Portraying Irene as a master-painter is so clever, it resonates with the way painters often associate certain colors to specific people. For painters often see the world through their color palette, and assigning specific colors to certain individuals gives much more depth to the notion of colors (one that goes beyond race) that only the painter has an understanding for such color associations. This makes me wonder what was going through the writer’s mind when she assigned certain colors to the various characters in the book? (even secondary characters are assigned colors).
Clearly, there’s such great emphasis on the notion of colors. For it also extends to influencing the choice of names. Names in “Passing” phonetically resemble colors. John Bellew’s last name can be pronounced in a single syllable like the color blue, Brians’s last name Redfield has the word red in the actual name, Irene when changed to ‘Rene has a single syllable and rhymes with green, and lastly, Clare’s name is similar to clear. What do these colors symbolize in the four characters (even though clear isn’t a color) that represent them? and what greater meaning lies in the way these colors interact with one another? does it explain the very dynamics between those characters?
Lastly, I love how you portrayed race as a “vivid technicolor” rather than it being solely about the definite distinction between the colors “black and white”. It changes the definition of the concept of race by demonstrating the inextricable relationship between whiteness and blackness.
This is such a beautifully written post! Color definitely plays a vital role in this novel. I marveled at the beauty and richness of Larsen’s descriptions while reading it; she has a way of connecting emotions in her writing. I mean, by describing one pale as ‘pasty white’ and another version of pale as ‘white-lily,’ Irene, and in extension the author, is setting the foundation of reading into these characters. And indeed, black and white are not just two distinct colors but a whole spectrum (hence why some people can pass and others can’t) which you have dissected successfully in this post.