Sunday, October 21, 2007
After reading the first part of the book Passing it is similar to ex-colored man because they are both passing. Having a sense of self is in both in Passing and Ex-colored man. I think the book is also focused on women in general. The relationship between Clare and Irene is the focus I think. Irene only passes when she needs to and Clare does it all the time. When I found out that Clare was married to a white man surprised me I didn’t think that she would go that far. Then the scene on page 54 surprised me when Clare husband called her nig as a nickname. That’s when it said something about Clare that she would Anything to pass she would take racist nickname from her husband. I would that she would at least married a man that wasn’t racist. Irene is married to a black doctor and she only passes when she has to unlike Clare. Irene is still in touch with her African American side because of her husband. She doesn’t not disclaim from her African American side. I think that the book is a good book so far and is a change from the poems. I think it shows a good comparison between two women in the same world but two different ways they live their lives in the world. Clare and Irene have a whole different way of looking at the world and how to live it.
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4 comments:
I like the fact that this book focuses on women. We haven't really read anything that deals with mainly women. I don't understand why anyone would be with someone who has a nickname for them like Clare's husband has for her. It's just really rude. I enjoy this book a lot and I like that both of these women are so similar, but yet so different. They live in the same world, but it's really different. I'm excited to see whats going to happen in Part 3.
I agree with you in that this book really is about two women living completely different lives yet neither one is really happy with it. I think it goes back to our class discusssion about stereotypes. She's showing that not all black people are the same, feel the same way about things, etc. She's really making a statement about things not always being what they seem.
I also think that this book is somewhat similar to the Autobiography of an Ex-Couloued Man, mainly for the reason that they both pass only when necessary for them. I like that this book focuses mainly on the women characters. Its a nice change from the more male focused readings we've looked at and also different because it's not the women being described through nature but through who they are and what they actually look like. It's interesting to see the differences in writing between Larsen and others such as Johnson, Toomer, and McKay.
The scene where John Bellew calls Clare "Nig" really shocked me, too. I guess that I just cannot wrap my mind around her ability to withstand that kind of blatant racism. Whether Clare had been white or black naturally, being in the presence of that kind of racism would make anyone uncomfortable. If I were her, or anyone in the room at the point, there is no way that I could simply smile and nod at that comment. However, I guess that that was the plight of women during this period, especially those "passing."
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