Blogpost #10

This week we have been talking about Passing, which I find absolutely fascinating. To me, it is a more messed up, twisted version of Harry Potter, where Irene lives in two worlds and passes when she needs to. However, whenever I think of Clare, I think of a girl who left everything behind and didn't think about the reprocutions of that decision. I think of a girl who was uncomfortable in her own skin due to her aunt's oppressive authority over her, which led her to want to be pass for good. Irene is the type of girl who is very stubborn and set in her own ways, and as soon as Clare, this beautiful, manipulative enigma comes into play, Irene is sent in spirals. Irene is very suspicious of her husband having an affair with Clare, and constantly asks him if she think she is attractive (and other questions of that sort.) At the beginning, I portrayed Irene as this mother who did what she needed to for her family, but as the novel progresses she becomes really insecure and materialistic. The biggest issue that I have with Irene is that instead of deciding to confront Clare or her husband, Brian, about having an affair, she chooses to keep quiet, about that and other things (such as seeing Clare's racist husband) in order to keep things how they are, for her own security. Overall, I think that at the very end of the novel everyone just breaks down into pieces and lets their personal desires get the best of them.

Comments

  1. Shanaya ShahDecember 2, 2017 at 9:08 PM

    Cassie, I love the parallel to Harry Potter that you made. Leading what seems like who lives not only is something that takes a toll mentally, but also something that effects an individual emotionally. Irene isn't great at dealing with her emotions, and is more focused on how she appears to others than her own mental health. She clearly has strong feelings towards clare, but doesn't really talk about them or express them in a way that helps her gain any clarity. If anything, this shifts the focus onto mental health, a topic that isn't explicitly talked about in this book even though gender, identity and race were thoroughly explored. Its clear that she hasn't learned how to communicate her feelings and thus doesn't really know how to deal with them in a healthy way.

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