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Here, There, and in Between: Travel As Metaphor in Mixed Race Narratives of the Harlem Renaissance

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Here, There, and in Between: Travel As Metaphor in Mixed Race Narratives of the Harlem Renaissance University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations Dissertations and Theses Spring August 2014 HERE, THERE, AND IN BETWEEN: TRAVEL AS METAPHOR IN MIXED RACE NARRATIVES OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE Colin Enriquez University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2 Part of the African American Studies Commons, American Literature Commons, Literature in English, North America Commons, Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Enriquez, Colin, "HERE, THERE, AND IN BETWEEN: TRAVEL AS METAPHOR IN MIXED RACE NARRATIVES OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE" (2014). Doctoral Dissertations. 79. https://doi.org/10.7275/21a3-dt81 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/79 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. HERE, THERE, AND IN BETWEEN: TRAVEL AS METAPHOR IN MIXED RACE NARRATIVES OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE A Dissertation Presented By Colin Enriquez Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2014 English © Copyright by Colin Enriquez 2014 All Rights Reserved Here, There, and In Between: Travel as Metaphor in Mixed Race Narratives of the Harlem Renaissance A Dissertation Presented By COLIN ENRIQUEZ Approved as to style and content by: _______________________________________ Laura A. Doyle, Chair _______________________________________ Emily Lordi, Member _______________________________________ James E. Smethurst, Member _______________________________________ Jenny Spencer, Department Chair Graduate English Department DEDICATION To Joyce and Henry, the parents who gave me the spark of life. To Philip and Kathryn, the siblings who share that spark. To Perry, who has always sparkled at my side. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS More than one person brings a dissertation to fruition. Of the cast to whom I am indebted for their assistance with this project, I want to start by thanking my chair, Professor Laura Doyle, a person of great intellect, strength, and generosity who provided steady guidance throughout every phase of the dissertation process. I am also tremendously grateful to my committee members, Professors James Smethurst and Emily Lordi, who enthusiastically joined my journey during the proposal phase and used their areas of specialization to enrich the conceptualization of the dissertation. I want to extend my gratitude to the entire UMass Graduate English faculty. In particular, the members of my Area Exam come to mind; Professors Joseph Skerrett and Ruth Jennison encouraged my early dissertating forays and offered stimulating advice. Also, the foundation of my scholarly abilities was shaped in classes with Professors Suzanne Daly, Nicholas Bromell, Deborah Carlin, and Stephen Clingman. Great appreciation is no less due to the peers whom I consider friends and the friends whom I consider scholars. Each of them was there for me either during a crucial moment or for all of the dissertating process. These include Michael Bennett, Rachel J. Daniel, Natasha Azank, Joel Anderson, Jung Yun, Eyal Tamir, Lisha Storey, and Markeysha Davis. Then, there are of course the many, many people to whom I am thankful because they befriended me and showed interest in my work out of general human inquisitiveness and kindness. Finally, I am blessed to have a family that has cheered every major milestone of my studies. And, I can’t close without offering ineffable thanks to my love, Perry v Daniel—the friend, aide, inspiration, role model, and fellow traveler who matched me step for step during the entire pilgrimage of the PhD degree. vi ABSTRACT HERE, THERE, AND IN BETWEEN: TRAVEL AS METAPHOR IN MIXED RACE NARRATIVES OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE MAY 2014 COLIN ENRIQUEZ, B.A., CITY COLLEGE OF NEW YORK M.F.A., HUNTER COLLEGE Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Laura A. Doyle Created to comment on Antebellum and Reconstruction literature, the tragic mulatto concept is habitually applied to eras beyond the 19th century. After the turn of the century, the tragic mulatto has become an end rather than a means to questioning racist and abolitionist agendas. Rejecting the pathetic, selfish, and self-destructive traits inscribed by the tragic mulatto label, this dissertation uses geographic, cultural, and racial boundary crossing to theorize a rereading of the mixed race character of Harlem Renaissance literature. Focusing on instances of train, automobile, and boat travel, the study establishes a distinct relationship between the character, transportation, and technology whereby the notion of race is questioned. Furthermore, the dissertation divides travel instances into departure, interstitial, and arrival phases. Because of their ability to extend perception and experience, media is also interpreted here as transportation. Using figurative and literal travel, the selected texts shift the narratives between racialized localities to allegorize 20th mixed race subjectivity. Being socially vii ambiguous and anonymous spaces, interstitial moments suspend the normative performance of race. With this premise, I demonstrate that the selected authors use transitional moments and arrivals to investigate race binarism. After the introduction establishes a theoretical frame composed of transnational and migration studies methods, the ensuing chapters demonstrate the interpretive function of travel in Jean Toomer’s Cane, Nella Larsen’s Quicksand, and Walter White’s Flight. This reading is aided by the connection between modernism and mixed race identity as expounded upon in the works of Robert E. Park, Mark Whalan, Cherene Sherrard-Johnson, Jeanne Scheper. However, it differs from these in its assertion of travel as an interpretive mode for mixed race literature as a tradition. Following the cues given by the selected works, each chapter explores a different application and outcome of travel. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................. v ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... vii INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1. "BLUE-SHEEN GODS” AND “BLUE BLOODS”: THE EFFECTS OF MODERN TRAVEL ON MIXED RACE IDENTITY IN JEAN TOOMER’S CANE .................................................... 38 Section I: “The Machine,” Mixed Race Issues, and the Rural South ............................... 48 Section II: Mixed Race Themes Transformed by Speed and Light in the Urban North ... 56 Section III: The Scapegoating of a Prodigal Son .............................................................. 74 2. “HER CONSCIOUSNESS EXPANDS A TINY NOTCH”: INTERSTITIAL SPACE, VISIBILITY, AND PARALLAX PERSPECTIVE IN NELLA LARSEN’S QUICKSAND ........ 83 Interstitial Place as Liminal Space .................................................................................... 89 Situating Early 20th Century Black Teloi .......................................................................... 97 Naxos: Southern Industrial Up-lift .................................................................... 100 Harlem: Northern Bourgeois Up-lift .................................................................. 102 Denmark: Black Expatriatism ............................................................................ 106 Alabama: Folk Religious Stoicism .................................................................... 109 3. “MIRACULOUS TRANSFORMATION”: REINVENTION BY TRAVEL AND MASS MEDIA IN WALTER WHITE’S FLIGHT ................................................................................. 118 Transported by Machines and Media .............................................................................. 123 Summary of Flight .......................................................................................................... 127 Material Communities and the Transcendent Self .......................................................... 133 Atlanta: Religious Prejudice and Colorism ........................................................ 134 Philadelphia: Single-Motherhood and Poverty .................................................. 144 New York: Passing and Capitalism ................................................................... 151 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................ 170 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................ 175 ix INTRODUCTION Mixed Race Travelers of the Harlem Renaissance In 1892, Homer Plessy boarded a “white” train car in New Orleans bound for Covington, Louisiana. As an act of civil disobedience arranged by the Citizens' Committee of New Orleans, Plessy admitted to being “black” according to the state standard at the time, even though he was seven-eighths “white.” Violating a newly instituted
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