W. E. B. Du Bois introduces double consciousness to address the struggle of African Americans to have an identity. Double consciousness explores how African Americans see themselves and how white people realize them, which leads them to have two different identities. In “Strivings of the Negro People”, Du Bois writes, “It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One feels his two-ness, — an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.”
Du Bois, W. E. B. “Strivings of the Negro People.” The Atlantic, 1 Aug. 1897, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1897/08/strivings-of-the-negro-people/305446/.
In Nella Larsen’s Passing, the protagonist Irene is affected by this double consciousness. The fact that she passes as white for convenience reinforces her double identity. Her experiences as a “white” woman and as a black woman are utterly different. The one drop-rule contributed to the identity crisis that many African Americans experienced. This law did not allow mixed-race individuals to identify as mixed. If they had Black ancestry, they were automatically considered Black. In part, the oppressive society dominated by white people was what forced light skin African Americans to pass as white.
When it comes to Irene, she identifies as Black and is genuinely engaged with the Black community. Even though she identifies as Black, when she is by herself passing as white, she is perceived as “An Italian, a Spaniard, a Mexican, or a gypsy. Never, when she was alone, had they even remotely seemed to suspect that she was a Negro” (Larsen 17). It is evident that she is trying to remain faithful to the Black community but at the same time passing as white is her escape from her normalcy and an opportunity to be an “American” with privileges and not just a “Negro.”
Irene does not only try to stay true to her black culture. At the same time, she is looking at herself “through the eyes of others,” as Du Bois says. She is mostly living up to societal expectations and building a perfectly structured life. Irene’s lifestyle brings us back to the “Cult of true womanhood.” While her husband is in charge of the outside work and being the provider of the family, Irene focuses on taking care of the household and doing charity work. She somewhat accepts white patriarchal capitalist ideas that make women inside the house more feminine than those who are outside working. When she is with the Black community she looks really open-minded, but when she is at home she wants to be the perfect wife and mother and wants her family to do the “right” thing. Her behavior shows a contrast between what she considers herself to be: a Black woman, and how she sees herself “through the eyes of others.” On one side she is proud of her blackness and on the other side, she acts in accordance with the “cult of true womanhood” which is a white standard for women.
Though Irene clearly has a put-together life in the eyes of others, her interiority reveals her internal battles concerning her race. “She was caught between two allegiances, different, yet the same. Herself. Her race. Race! The thing that bound and suffocated her.” “Irene Redfield wished, for the first time in her life, that she had not been born a Negro. For the first time she suffered and rebelled because she was unable to disregard the burden of race. It was, she cried silently, enough to suffer as a woman, an individual, on one’s account, without having to suffer for the race as well” ( Larsen 101). Irene cannot live freely because she has to protect her family and her middle-class status. On top of that, she feels the need to protect her race as well. Irene wants to be free from the “burden of the race.” Nonetheless, she puts aside her desires and prioritizes her family and the Black community. This allows her to have security in her life but at the same time, she struggles with her identity.
Passing offers us a taste of what it means to be a person of color stuck between two identities. This does not only affect the way one sees themself but also the way one sees others. It is a never-ending battle to belong.
https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/604306/amber/
This video is an animation that explores the double consciousness that people of color experience. It is also an animation of the article mentioned above “Strivings of the Negro People.”
