Ambiguity in "Passing"

Passing, by Nella Larsen, is considered by some critics to be “the tragic plight of the mulatto.” (Tate, 142). Claudia Tate argues otherwise in her article Nella Larsen's Passing: A Problem of Interpretation. She believes that the novel is an important work of “literary subtlety and psychological ambiguity.” (Tate, 146).

Tate focuses on Clare and Irene’s characterization as well as Clare’s death in the article. She expresses that the first description of Clare the reader receives is through the letter Clare sends to Irene. As Irene describes the letter she is also indirectly describing Clare and her ambiguity. Clare is a mystery. Throughout the novel, the reader can only guess, along with Irene, what Clare is thinking. She is “purely external” (Tate, 144). Throughout the entire novel, Irene obsesses over Clare and her outward appearance. Irene describes Clare with such detail that it is as if the reader can see her shining through the book pages. However, the reader only gets bits and pieces of Irene’s appearance, but all of her emotions and thoughts, where with Clare we get none. Irene is “intensely internal.” (Tate, 144).

Clare and Irene are two sides of the same coin. They both of African American women who can “pass.” However, their characterization could not be more different, and due to these contrast, they compliment each other. Both of the women have aspects of their characterization that are ambiguous; Clare’s thoughts and Irene’s appearance. These elements go beyond the ambiguity of their visual race. Irene is practical, simple, and grounded, where Clare is ethereal, dangerous, and mysterious.

Claudia Tate presents the contrast between the internal and external characterization of the two women to support her claim that the novel Passing holds psychological ambiguity. She further supports her claim due to the ambiguity of the final scene. In the article Nella Larsen's Passing: A Problem of Interpretation, Claudia Tate says that Nella Larsen’s Passing “is not the conventional tragic mulatto story at all” (Tate, 146), and I have to agree with her due to the ambiguity of the ending scene and the characterization of Irene and Clare.