AO5 Passing

CRITICAL - "passing is about...

Bernard --> "passing is about the monumental cultural transformations that took place in American society after World War 1"

CRITICAL - "passing is about ...

Bernard --> "passing is about hypocrisy and fear, secrecy and betrayal"

CRITICAL - "on the ...

Bernard ---> "on the fateful day of their reunion both women are passing for white"

CRITICAL - "as she is observing ...

Bernard --> "as she is observing Clare; Irene is simultaneously making her up, inventing her- and inventing race too"

CRITICAL --> "it was easy

Bernard --> "it was easy for Clare to dispose of a past, which was bankrupt of love as well as money"

CRITICAL - "but it wasn't racial ...

Bernard --> "but it wasn't racial hatred that catapulted Clare into whiteness; it was the shabby room. Clare passed for white because she hated being poor, not being black"

CRITICAL - "all passing narratives...

Bernard --> "all passing narratives are about class as much as they are about race"

CRITICAL --> "even though she views ...

Bernard --> "even though she views passing through the lens of rank materialism, ultimately she sees passing as a play"

CRITICAL - "for her, passing ...

Bernard --> "for her, passing is a sport and she is unrivalled in her technique"

CRITICAL - "Clare Kendry chooses...

Bernard --> "Clare Kendry chooses not a sympathetic white man but an out-and-out racist"

CRITICAL - "it was easy ...

Bernard --> "it was easy for Clare to dispose of her past which was bankrupt of love as well as money"

CRITICAL - "Clare represents ...

Bernard --> "Clare represents the ambitions inherent in the new women"

CRITICAL - "nella Larsen ...

Gray - "Nella Larsen has been called the mystery women of the Harlem renaissance"

CRITICAL - "paradoxically ...

Scruggs - "paradoxically Irene is both attracted to and appalled by Clare's desire to live on the edge"

CRITICAL - "sexual desire...

Scruggs - "sexual desire is also tied to social class"

CRITICAL - "Clare is a ...

Scruggs - "Clare is a selfish opportunist and a parvenu"

CRITICAL - "race is ...

Bennett - "race is slippery, uneasy and unstable"

CRITICAL - "Clare claims that ...

Bennett - "Clare claims that she passes only for financial freedom"

CRITICAL - "Jack is so ...

Bennett - "Jack is so virulently racist that he calls a slur as a pet name"

CRITICAL - "Clare's death ...

Bennett - "Clare's death, filtered through Irene's repressed memories, is deliberately obscured"

CRITICAL - "when the stakes ...

Wall - "when the stakes are higher [...] the cost is computed in material as well as psychological terms"

CRITICAL - "Clare is essentially ...

Hutchinson - "Clare is essentially amoral, apolitical and mysterious"

CRITICAL - "Clare haunts the domain ...

Hutchinson - "Clare haunts the domain of the black community as its outer limit"

CRITICAL - "the threat of Brazil...

Hutchinson - "the threat of 'Brazil' fold decisively into the threat of "Clare" in the opening scene of Act three 'the finale"

CRITICAL - "Brian becomes identified metaphorically...

Hutchinson - "Brian becomes identified metaphorically with catlike Clare, who is the "cream" he has perhaps stolen from Jack"

CRITICAL - "passing is as much...

McDowell - "passing is a novel that is as much about the sexual longing between two women as it is a story about race"