현대영어영문학 제54권 2호(2010. 5) 한국현대영어영문학회 317-334

Tragic Mulatto Image in Larsen’s Passing*

1)

Seo Eun-mi (Howon University)

Seo Eun-mi. “Tragic Mulatto Image in Larsen's Passing.” Modern Studies in English Language & Literature 54.2 (2010): 317-334. This paper aims to discuss tragic mulatto image in Larsen's novel Passing. Larsen is one of the most famous female writers during the Harlem Renaissance. Larsen is a biracial woman who has experienced the racial discrimination in the American society. Larsen's personal experiences as a biracial woman are reflected in her short novels such as Quicksand and Passing. In Passing, Larsen created two mulatta female characters who pass for white. Clare always pretends to be a white woman since she has married to a white man. On the other hand, Irene who has a dark husband passes rarely. Through Clare and Irene's life and their embattled friendship, we can understand the tragedy and agony of passing in multiracial American society.

Key words: Harlem Renaissance, passing, African-American, biracial, mulatto, mulatta

1. Introduction

Harlem Renaissance is the period with outpouring of literature, art and music in African-American cultural history. It is also called "New Negro Movement" named after Alain Locke's essay "The New Negro" which was published in 1925. Locke said that African-American had

* This paper has been supported by 2009 Howon University Visiting Scholar Research Fund while the researcher was working as an Adjunct Visiting Scholar at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana. 318 Seo Eun-mi achieved a spiritual emancipation (Wall 1995 2). Locke argued for a revised racial identity. A group of intellectual writers and artists gathered together in Harlem which was the neighborhood in New York. Harlem became the cultural capital for the African American intellectuals and French speaking African and Caribbean colonies writers and artists between 1920s and 1930s. Harlem was occupied by majority of African-Americans and many of them were immigrated from the Southern parts of America. African American music, dances and paintings were also performed and presented in Harlem. The Harlem Renaissance was not only for male artists and writers. There were quite a few female writers and artists who published and presented their works actively. The significant female writers were Jessie Fauset (1882-1961) and Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960). Plum Bun by Jessie Fauset and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Hurston are well known in this period. Nellar Larsen (1891-1964) was one of the most famous female writers during the Harlem Renaissance. Nella Larsen was born in Chicago. Her mother immigrated from Denmark to the United States. Her father was from the Virgin Islands, which was formerly West Indies. Her father died when Larsen was two years old and her mother married a Dane again. She had a younger sister Ann from her mother's second marriage. Her step father did not like Larsen since she was only a mulatta (biracial) in her family. When she was an elementary student, she was only biracial and her most classmates were the children from German and Scandinavian countries. She must have been through a lot of challenge as a biracial woman in the period of severe racial discrimination. Larsen traveled among the black social elite but she also actively participated in white intellectual and artistic circles. She had friends both whites and blacks (Rabin 135). She was an unconventional woman by 1920s standards; she wore her dresses short, smoked cigarettes, and Tragic Mulatto Image in Larsen’s Passing 319 rejected religion (Washington 355). She published several short novels. Quicksand (1928) and Passing (1929) are considered as influential novels which raise serious issues regarding colored people identity and biracial women's sexuality. Larsen became one of the three most leading novelists of the New Negro or Harlem Renaissance by publishing two novels (Davis, 1994). Quicksand is regarded as Larsen's autobiographical novel. She also published short stories such as Sanctuary (1930) in Forum magazine. In this short story, Larsen was accused of plagiarism. She won a Guggenheim in 1930 which was the writing award as the first black woman. She traveled Spain to write her third novel but she did not complete her novel. Larsen was not able to have long happier life because of the painful divorce. After divorce, she moved from Harlem to Greenwich village and she stopped writing. She is referred as the most mysterious and enigmatic woman in Harlem Renaissance (Patton & Honey 352-353). According to Larson (1992), Larsen was a sad, beautiful, lonely, woman. Larsen was sophisticated, witty, cultured and urbane. Her life is full of tragedy and disappointment. She died in a one-room apartment. In this paper, Lasen's second novel Passing will be discussed in depth regarding the tragic "passing" in the American society. Two main female characters Clare and Irene are early childhood friends. They encounter each other in twelve years while both of them are passing for white at the luxurious hotel in Chicago. Through embattled friendship between Clare and Irene, we can discuss the controversial issues such as biracial women identity and meaning of passing for white. At that time, one drop of "Negro" blood was considered as black (Bennett 5). Why does Clare want to communicate with her friends in Harlem community after passing for white for a long time? Why is Clare not happy even though she can pass for white and maintain wealthy life? 320 Seo Eun-mi

What is the reason Irene and Clare cannot continue real friendship after they encounter in twelve years? Why does Irene consider Clare as the obstacles to her perfect marriage life? Why did Irene push Clare out of the window and commit murder? This short novel raises lots of critical issues regarding color and racial identity in the period of Harlem Renaissance.

2. What is the “Passing” in Harlem Renaissance

It has been estimated that tens of thousands people crossed the color line or passed from black to white, particularly in the years between 1880 and 1925 (Bennet 2). In the nineteenth century the dynamic of light skinned blacks simply allowed themselves to be taken for white and passed for white (Bennet 4). "Passing" can be interpreted as pretending as white people among the colored people. It refers to a black person's successful attempt to pass white for various reasons (Toth 57). Passing has also several meanings such as possessing, pretending, performing, dying, crossing paths, foregoing movement, changing, faking, impersonating, and so on. For example, in Langston Hugh's short story Passing, we can understand the meaning of "passing" clearly: "Dear Ma, I felt like a dog, passing you downtown last night and not speaking to you. You were great, though. Didn't give a sign that you even knew me, let alone I was your son (cited in Bennett 51)." As we can see Hugh's description, the son pretended not to recognize his mother in some situation because he did not have any courage to tell the truth in front of other white people. It is sad for the colored person to pretend to be white person in the critical situation. In the American society, colored people, especially African-American people went through agony and racial discrimination even after the American Tragic Mulatto Image in Larsen’s Passing 321 civil war. There were challenges because of the color in the multiracial American society. Why do African-Americans have to pass for white whenever they have chances? It might be difficult to understand the concept of "passing" if we were not in the African-Americans' shoes in America. Among the African-Americans, their colors are different depending upon their origins and genes. Some people might have light color so that most people can not recognize whether they are colored people or not. They can be recognised as Latinos and Spaniards. That is the reason why people try to pass for white for the sake of human dignity. However, passing for white is kind of deceiving themselves and other people. Even though biracial people can be successful for passing for white, they may go through tremendous psychological agony and pain. In this kind of passing business, it is difficult to continue sincere human relationship. Secrets are always revealed eventually. In most cases, passing can lead to the tragic ending such as suicide.

3. Tragic mulatto image in Passing

Larsen quotes the four lines from the American romanticist poet Countee Cullen's poem "Heritage" in the epitaph in her novel.

One three centuries removed From the scenes his fathers loved, Spicy grove, cinnamon tree What is Africa to me?

These four lines imply the significant meaning about racial identity. "What is Africa to me?" Africa means slave and restriction of freedom in case of African-Americans. In Passing, Larsen creates double